If you had asked me what I thought about art and creativity a few years ago, I would’ve replied with something like: “Art is a powerful and sacred phenomenon that can transform our very essence.” And while I still believe this to be true, I must confess I have become much less serious with my work and my outlook on creating and I believe this to be a much healthier way of looking at things.

Rather than taking everything we do overly seriously, I believe we should have fun with what we do first, because we can still get an important message across even if we’re having a blast — something my former self could never agree with.

Most messages only really get communicated via humour or some other tool that lightens the mood of the communication. 

If nothing else, I find that I remember more information if it is presented to me via a funny statement (even if the statement was of an ironic or sarcastic nature — think South Park or The Simpsons).

But there’s a much deeper problem I have with being overly-serious:

I believe the glorification of any topic that we cherish a lot is a defence mechanism, put in place by our subconscious mind, to protect our beliefs from the constant self-doubt we carry in ourselves. 

And the best medicine for self-doubt is exposing ones vulnerabilities.

Because we now have the incomprehensible luck of living in a society so well formed and so safe (historically speaking), there really is no real need to not expose oneself and ones insecurities. In reality, this mechanism only works best when we are in real, mortal danger like having to show strong dominance in a group of other dominant individuals to guard ourselves from being outcast or even killed. 

Now, obviously the cavemen times are over and you can be a total moron today without any real repercussions — in reality it’s the morons of our society that usually even flourish, both financially and socially.

We even look up to them — the brave warrior of yesterday has become the fearless buffoon of today, not afraid to show their vulnerabilities and bare the scars society has brought upon them with pride.

The point is, insecurities can create a false need to be dignified, and to hide our faults behind such a facade. And a lot of the theoretical, overly-complex conversations in art are just that — camouflage for our insecurities.

Rather than hiding behind them, we all should embrace them — social media, especially YouTube, have done miracles for us, because they let us express ourselves to the masses. We should in fact build on our faults and use them to propagate our careers and our lives towards a better future.

It’s like covering a zit really; you can, but no normal person will actually be fooled by the makeup, because unless you’re a master make-up artist, anyone can tell you have a zit on your face, regardless of how much you try to cover it up. The only people who will tell you otherwise are those, that are doing the same thing with their zits.

So, instead of covering up our zits — be it on our faces or on our souls — maybe wear them with pride, have fun and even get a green smoothy once in a while with the money and energy you would’ve otherwise spent on your facade. 

Unlike make-up and overly-complex words, a nice sip of green vegetable juice or the mental equivalent of a green smoothy — not giving a damn and being content with ones life — will not only bring you more joy in your life and your creative work, but even heal some of the issues that made you start building your facade in the first place.