S1E2: How losing all his lego helped my friend create the life he loves
He might not agree
I'm not so sure if my friend agrees with this but I'm sure there is a big bright side to him losing all his Lego. When my friend was around 10 years old, his mom gave all his Lego away to another young guy. That guy was a poor kid who just came to the Netherlands from India. It was me actually. So this story might be a bit biased. Anyway there's a great lesson in all (t)his misfortune.
Inventors
Like I said in my previous post, this friend and I just wanted to be inventors. Everyday we were inventing something new. We were too young to patent stuff and we didn't know if our ideas were already realised by someone else. Our brains (and hands) were wired to always come up with new stuff.
One of the ways we could express our inventive nature was with Lego. So you can imagine how my friend felt when he lost all his Lego. Sad. You can also imagine how I felt receiving all this new Lego. It felt like receiving all his Lego. Imagine that.
When losing Lego
But my dear friend (who's reading this with tears in his eyes) didn't let this misfortune get to him. No. It was not the Lego that enabled him to invent. It was his curious, creative and restless nature that powered him to come up with the brightest ideas. There was this fire burning in him. So when he lost his Lego, he found another way to express and direct this fire. The things he had in his mind HAD to come alive. They just HAD to be realised! So when he had an idea, he just computer-programmed it. Or he just took a spray can and sprayed things till they matched his taste.
Never let one obstacle extinguish the fire that burns inside of you. When every bone in your body says: "build something great", please listen to that voice. A creative/inventive person will become physically sick when expression is blocked. Like Bruce Lee said (not exactly these words): The most important thing is to be able to COMPLETELY express yourself.
A creative life
So losing all his Lego was not the ending of his creative career. His Lego was just one episode of his creative life! After you've invented something and built it, you move on to your next invention. Inventors don't have ONE idea. No, they can only survive if their whole being is in 'the zone' to create something new. That's why inventors are terrible people to manage. They're the first to get fired. But also the first to be admired. Because they risk everything just to see something that exists only in their brain come into existence.
If you're an inventor/creative person, it's so important to listen to that voice. It's so important that you keep creating. If you feel down or depressed it might be because you're not able to express your deepest creative desire. I will also talk about how to feel better as a creative, what the pitfalls are and how to overcome them.
Also, I will let you know what happened to all his Lego in 25 years. Stay tuned. Create the life you love.