Why Shouldn’t You Take Yourself and Your Art Too Seriously?

Because taking yourself too seriously denies you potential and possibilities.

You probably know somebody with little to no sense of humor. Likewise, you probably know somebody who takes little to no joy in life. I’ll bet you even know people who frequently judge others, complain, lament various things, and take everything oh-so-seriously.

These might all be the same person.

To be fair – there will be situations, circumstances, random happenstances, and like events that require seriousness. Shit happens that must be dealt with.

But a dominant attitude of too much seriousness robs you of energy. It’ll steal your joy, enjoyment, and the fun that life can offer.

The creative process can be challenging, sometimes frustrating, complicated, difficult, and infuriating. Other times, it can be calming, pleasant, easy, and gratifying. And there are times it can and will be both.

Whatever your creative process looks like for you – there are lots of reasons why you should be mindful not to take yourself and your art too seriously.

A too-serious approach to creation can lead to the process having little to no joy behind it, fixation on perfection, and a sense of self-righteousness attached to being “an artist.”

Artists are by their nature Intentional creators. You write the book, paint the painting, sculpt the sculpture, and so on. From your imagination, you’re bringing something tangible into the world. Whether or not you share it – or sell it – is another matter.

The process of creation will involve some seriousness of focus. You must give time and attention to bring the intangible of your imagination into the tangible. And if you don’t buckle down, set aside time to do the work, and then DO THE WORK – nothing gets created.

But if you are too serious about the work, you risk losing what drew you to do your creative work in the first place. What’s that? It’s the calling of your imagination that you are compelled to answer.

I write. The sci-fi and fantasy worlds of my creation exist in my heart, mind, and soul. The characters are as real to me as the keyboard beneath my fingers. Whether I have vested, interested, clamoring readership or fans – or not – I must get this intangible vision to the page or screen.

Blogs like this work the same. I have a notion I feel must be shared – and here it is. The process requires seriousness so that I will sit down to do the work. But the creative portion – that’s where joy comes into play.

Stealing your enjoyment

The biggest downside to my blogging process is the schedule I’ve created for it.

Four days a week I produce a blog. There are topics attached to each one. I have a time in my head by which they must be published. And sometimes the topic is loath to show itself to me. Other times, the words don’t flow. On more than one occasion, what I started was abandoned because it didn’t speak to me.

If I allow myself to get upset because I’m running late, or having a hard time finding a topic to write about – that threatens to steal my joy from the process.

If, like this blog, I didn’t get it written the day before – the process of creating it the morning I share it is in danger of being joyless.

Overall, if I take this too seriously, I can and will lose sight of why I do it.

When that happens – you steal your enjoyment of creation. And isn’t it joy in the creation that drives you to create in the first place?

Why do I do it?

I feel compelled to produce these articles and share my processes and experiences. It doesn’t matter who does and doesn’t read these. They are written both to help others experiencing the issues I work with – and are part of my work with my own demons.

Putting my thoughts onto the screen like this is cathartic. The crap rattling around in my brain has somewhere to go so that it doesn’t distract me. Before I take myself too seriously – I can release the unwanted stumbling blocks before they get in my way.

For the things that are much too personal – and none of your business – I keep a handwritten journal. I’ve recently returned to the process of daily journaling, which is also cathartic. And it’s paper because there’s a different energy connected to it that’s less creative and more therapeutic. But also not taken too seriously.

My deepest desire as a writer is to inspire, help, encourage, and empower others. Whether that’s through my blogs on the writing process, mindfulness, conscious reality creation, non-toxic positivity – or imaginary sci-fi, fantasy, and Steampunk worlds, characters, and plots – the desire is the same. Inspire, help, encourage, and empower others.

When you take that too seriously, however, you set yourself up for heartbreak, failure, and other negatives.

Life is not meant to be taken too seriously

When you get all serious and hyper-focused on the overwhelming exposure to this fear-based society, finding joy – or even contentment – is extra challenging.

The bad news and negativity of the world are everywhere. Between the news and social media, suffering both far and near, and everything in between, it’s easy to lose hope, lose joy, and feel helpless and depressed.

Doing creative work is a means to be a beacon of light, hope, and joy to push away the fear.

The time you have in your body is finite. But you – the energetic, immaterial luminous being that is you – is infinite. This consciously aware being that you are is here to live life and experience potential, possibilities, and all sorts of cool shit unique to you.

It’s not meant to be taken too seriously. How can it be? So many things happen to people that are ridiculous, ludicrous, unexpected, and surreal. If you take it all too seriously – you risk missing experiences that make for amazing stories.

As a storyteller, I’ve taken personal tragedy and found the humor in it. This link will take you to the humorous narrative I wrote about a near-death experience and how it changed my life. I took it seriously – because that was necessary for my healing. But I didn’t take it too seriously – lest how broken I was risked dominating my reality and derailing my focused healing process.

And that’s the main reason not to take anything in life too seriously. When you’re too serious, you miss not only the humor in the ridiculousness of life – but potential and possibilities.

What’s to say that funny, ludicrous idea rattling around in your head isn’t a GOOD idea?

Your art is and isn’t you

The last reason not to take life too seriously is your art. What you create both is and isn’t you.

That’s important to recognize – because if you don’t, you might get offended.

Art is subjective. One person’s definition of beautiful is another’s definition of ugly. The story you find brilliant and inspiring your best friend might find trite and lame.

This is a reflection of the subjective nature of the art – not the artist. When you take yourself too seriously, you might take that as an attack on you, the artist. But it’s not an attack at all.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how the algorithm and editor choices on Medium work. I read stuff with typos and spelling errors that editors pick and share with broad audiences and can’t for the life of me figure out why my numbers, frankly, suck.

But it’s subjective. And if I take it all too seriously, the joy of the creative process – and why I share this – can be lost.

Recognizing that your art is a part of you – but isn’t you – helps you not take yourself too seriously. This necessary divorce of you from your art can help prevent the loss of joy in your creative process.

When you don’t take yourself and your art too seriously, you’re open to endless potential and lots of possibilities that can further awaken and improve your creative process. That’s why you shouldn’t take yourself and your art too seriously.