“Be courageous”, he shouted.
“Show some courage”, she whispered.
“Only the courageous need apply”, the sign said.
“What the hell is courage,” I asked.
Some of the smartest of us say that it is doing what we know to be dangerous and frightening but not giving a damn and doing it anyway. Others say it may be self-sacrifice writ large. Others quip — as quippers do — “courage is holding your head high and pressing on”.
OK.
We talk about courage in so many different ways that it is really hard to figure out what courage is at the end of the day.
Or first thing in the morning.
I think we can agree that running headlong toward the bad guys, or sprinting into a burning building, or driving on a California freeway anywhere near Los Angeles takes courage. But it is tough to define it for every situation or every person in any situation.
Look, I’m an artist. I will most likely never run into a burning building (unless my last twenty packs of Type 55 PN are in the fridge…), and most likely will run away from bad guys — or at least jog — slowly... while screaming. Don’t judge.
And I occasionally have to drive in California, but like most other CA drivers on the freeways there, I just text my buds, play my sax, and watch YouTube videos on my phone. I do loves me some “shorts”.
But that is a different sort of cloak of courage than the type we must wear to be an artist. Whether that be a professional creative — or even a semi-professional creative… or, hell, even a regular person creative… period.
Creative people wear their hearts out in the open — on their sleeves, or on the canvas, in the words on a page, a print, a tune, or a giant piece of iron or marble. Exposed to the elements like that, the weather is the least of our worries. It can be damaged by so much more than golf ball sized hail or a violent Haboob. (We used to call them dust-storms, but now we call ‘em Haboobs. I guess it is a heck of a lot more fun to say Haboob.
“Haboob, Haboob, Haboob”… catchy.)
Our ‘out there in the world for all to see hearts’ leads to our destiny, and our destiny actually leads back to our art. And the demand or even courage to be in control of both is sorely needed.
Or, at least a semblance of control.
Showing your work to anyone is a monumentally courageous act that somehow must be done. Sure you risk someone saying something mean about you, or your work. You risk rejection, adversity, anger, vitriol, and much more.
So what — really, so what?
Spend an hour on Twitter… you’ll get used to it.
The truth is you also risk someone saying they love it, adore it, want to see more of it, and need it more than life itself. OK, maybe not that bad, but I was getting excited there.
Choosing to create something instead of doing what everyone else tells you to do is also sitting there on the courage spectrum. Yeah, the naysayers are just wanting to keep us safe from disappointment. And occasionally they mean well. What they don’t know is that we artists are very familiar with disappointment. Disappointment can be a constant companion. We often have it over for coffee and those little pastry things with cream cheese in the middle… mmm.
Real courage is also NOT doing what everyone else says to do. We can choose not to follow the path that others seem so hell-bent on us following. The fads, the ‘norms’, the ‘trends’, and all of the other tricks that lead us from our chosen path to the ones with the crappyass pavement, bad lane lines, and potholes from too much traffic.
The courage guru, Richelle Goodrich:
“Courage to me is doing something daring, no matter how afraid, insecure, intimidated, alone, unworthy, incapable, ridiculed, or whatever other paralyzing emotion you might feel. Courage is taking action….no matter what. So you’re afraid? Be afraid. Be scared silly to the point you’re trembling and nauseous, but do it anyway!”
Stop thinking that you lack courage while you do amazingly courageous things like making art, photographs, stories, sculpture, music. It is all about courage, young Padawan.
So take action.
Today.
Write a paragraph.
Make a photograph.
Put paint on canvas.
Sculpt some clay.
Write 40 bars of music.
These are courageous acts in this world, at this time.
But do it with the knowledge that as you go forward, the resistance becomes stronger and you will need to draw on your strength and courage stash again and again. Then forge on anyway.
(Just don’t do only of the things listed above while careening down the 101 in your rusted-out 2004 Suburban. OK, the sculpting thing is probably alright.)
I am a photographer, designer, and photo editor. You can find me at my self-named website or at Project 52 Pro System where I teach commercial photography online. This is our tenth year of teaching, and it is the most unique online class you will find anywhere.
You can find my books on Amazon, and I have taught two classes at CREATIVELIVE.