If you want certainty, do not choose to live a creative life. If you want certainty, choose instead a life of practicality.
If we choose a creative life, we do not know what the future will hold. We do not know if things will work out. We do not know if we will earn a living. We do not know if others will find value in our work, if they will be inspired by it, if they will support our efforts, or if they will even notice. The creative path is one of uncertainty.
On the other hand, if we choose a life wherein we deny our creative nature, wherein we choose practicality and stability over uncertainty, the future is guaranteed. We are still not guaranteed to earn a living. We are still not guaranteed to be employed or even employable. We are still not guaranteed to be make a difference, to be be supported, or even noticed. None of those things are ever guaranteed.
If we choose to ignore our creative drive, to mute our inner voice, and to dampen the spark that wants so desperately to become a raging fire, we are guaranteed only one thing. We are guaranteed to not be creative. We will always wonder what could have and should have been, and to regret never having had the courage to give ourselves the opportunity to explore, discover, and express who we truly are and have to offer the world around us.
With creativity comes uncertainty, but uncertainty is the path of possibility.
“In life, so too it is in budo. In budo, so too it is in life.”
-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu