Practical matters are often given as reasons for not doing creative things.

“I’d love to try painting, but I don’t have time for that silly stuff.”

“Yeah, I love music, but who can spend an hour a day practicing guitar.”

“I hate my job, but I dare not change in these troubled times.”

It’s true, we have to be practical. We have to pay mortgages, school fee’s, taxes, car payments there is no end to the bills in a middle class life style. No end to the trouble you can get into taking risks in life, and yet, being practical — all the time — isn’t much fun is it? Yes, we need some stability in our lives, but past a certain point it’s more like an anchor and less like a foundation. And it’s not very creative to be an anchor. A creative person will find a way to have fun, make a statement, and be self-expressed somehow, no matter what the circumstances. I think that’s a key thing to do if you want to maintain a creative life, that is, find a way to get around practicalities, and take a few calculated risks.

Maybe more than a few calculated risks!

The woman in my drawing, Maude, was totally practical looking.  A plain cloth coat, comfortable non-descript shoes with no style factor, very little make-up — everything about her seemed to indicate a person who was practical and made safe choices. Still, I sensed someone wishing to “break out” of the practical mold, and hence my guess at her Secret Wish.

So, be practical by all means, you don’t have to close the shop and do the stand-up routine in LA. But if you really want to be creative, every once in awhile you have to throw practicality out the window and do something crazy just for the sake of your soul.