Back from a black hole, here’s some underreported news. It’s unlikely one of the billions of black holes in our universe will consume us, but at this very moment, there are at least three black holes right here on earth lurking around and trying to vacuum us up. An escape pod won’t help us avoid the dust bag, but a balancing of these three powerful pulls against each other will help.
Of course the all-knowing Wikipedia nonchalantly warns us “A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.”
Without a telescope, many non-NASA folks have experienced black holes roaming around and causing us to miss dinner at the very time we are in the act of making something. It’s easy to get lost in the very place where ideas flow and creativity happens. Some of us frequently get lost tinkering in our own garage, studio, workshop, or on our computer where time can’t even escape, You know, days can go by all while using coupons to buy yarn, paint, cardboard, and precious glitter from the hobby store – that are all carefully arranged and glued together before being sent off to gracefully age at the very center of this black hole – otherwise known as a self storage unit. Making for the sake of making, without sharing, can become a black hole since all output first needs some kind of input to consume.
The second black hole is all consuming and drags us in before we start making something. Yes like an ancient Ms. Pac-man this black hole is actually the act of “consuming.” We tell ourselves, before we can do anything constructive; we need more data, more experiences, and more watching Netflixs! Creativity depends on Consuming! Putting off what can be done today because we aren’t ready – without enough research, because we didn’t eat enough ice cream to collect enough popsicle sticks, or maybe we’re just pre-absorbing life’s pre-experiences from the comfort of a gently swaying hammock, Over consuming is the selfish black hole taking the form of watching endless Seinfeld reruns in search of a sein.
Nothing personal, but we can be easily scorched from long-winded hot gas by the third black hole through over-sharing. Always talking about what we did, always showing what we made, playing in every game, displaying in every art show, making every Karaoke night, never meeting a stage or a microphone that we didn’t like. Events galore, the black hole of eternal promoting can bring vast rewards and expanding networks – while starving resources needed for developing our techniques and creating anything new. Watch a hilarious rerun enough times and we begin wearing the pie on our own face.
Exclusively being sucked into making, consuming, or sharing reduces our effectiveness. While all three are needed in parts, does one of these black holes draw you more than others? Balance is the escape pod we need. Welcome back 🙂