Creators, Not Consumers

I’m embarrassed to say that many times I choose to consume over create. But last night, I created something.

Good morning everyone.

Last night on my way home from work I was tired. I was at the office late, and it was one of those days when the grind was grinding. I was so tired that rather than making dinner I picked up Sweetgreen on the way home.

“You never eat out,” my girlfriend said over the phone as I was heading home. “Are you feeling okay?”

Truth is I was just tired and sort of wanted to veg out. My brain seemed to be fully saturated and completely tapped for the day. I wanted to turn on a movie and zone out, or scroll YouTube to watch House Hunters, a heresy hunter, or bear hunting.

But then at 7:09pm CrossFit Kevin texted me about the workout in the morning, and said he wanted to meet up before the 6am class to do some additional conditioning. This may sound silly to you, but this actually pumped me up (the gym is my happy place) and sparked new life in me for the evening.

I decided there and then to turn my night around. To reclaim it.

So rather than reading the twelfth update of the day on the Iranian war (as if monitoring the situation is something I need to do for our nation’s national security), or mindlessly watching YouTube videos about how JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were much more problematic than what’s recently been portrayed, I picked up my fiddle and played some tunes.

Playing the old tunes that my sister Liddy wrote was literally, as my favorite composer J. S. Bach says, a complete “refreshment to the soul.” It was like my brain cells were parched and dehydrated, and the act of playing music—creating—was the water that brought everything back to life.

As my brain turned on again, the creativity started pouring out, and I ended up writing a new song on the fiddle. It made my soul so happy.

In contrast, the mindless scrolling of the news or online creators hashing conspiracy theories would’ve bogged my mind down like a dense Northwestern fog.

I empathize with the way many people feel at the end of a long work day, when the only thing they want to do is zone out and not think. But the things that we think will be restful and rewarding—social media scrolling, binging sports, the news, or reality TV—often do the very opposite of what’s actually satiating.

They deplete our minds and discontent our souls. They hijack our dopamine so that, not unlike addicts, we keep needing more and more for another hit.

My mom always told me and my siblings that we are a family of creators, and not consumers. I’m embarrassed to say that many times I choose to consume over create. But last night, I created something. A new song.

Creating not only keeps our minds agile and strong for a long, vibrant life, but it also reinforces our identity as image bearers, knowing that unlike everything else in the world, we—created in God’s image—have the ability to create things out of nothing. This shouldn’t inflate us but rather humble us, knowing that we ourselves are fearfully and wonderfully created.

Anyway, I wanted to write down this thought and share it with you. Know that Mr. Running On Butter himself still at times struggles to combat idleness and the lie that vegging out is rest. It’s not.

Here’s the new song: