Education versus Creativity

Don't get me wrong; education is a beautiful thing. It provides artists with the knowledge of new subjects to draw inspiration from, but it's also a double edged sword: I often find myself thinking about how much it stifles my creativity. The more I learn, The more I want to incorporate all these different things into one. I get to the point where I can't focus on anything but one verse or guitar riff, and then when I'm finally happy with that, I can't expand these things out into full songs. Not only do I have to deal with this dilemma of information overload, but the time constraints placed on me by the demands of college are the most damaging source of hindrances to my artistry.

I have no time to write full songs, let alone record them. I have no time to paint, sketch, and I rarely even have time to update my blog or upload videos to YouTube anymore. The things I love to do are all put on hold during the semester so that I have time to study and maintain my GPA.

I know there are plenty of people out there who have found a good balance between their hobbies and school, and I applaud them for that. But, for me, it's been impossible up to this point, and it's frustrating.

When I entered college, I had the hopes of having a decent body of work completed by the time I graduated: I wanted at least one CD released, a regularly updated blog, and a YouTube channel followed by thousands of people who loved my music. Here I am, in my Junior year, and I'm just now getting close to finishing up 5 songs for a release that I'm hoping will be available in late December/early January.

I will admit, college has done much good for me: I've matured quite a bit over the last 3 years, I met my fiancee, and I've learned quite a bit more about the business world than I ever would have otherwise. I just wish it didn't take up so damn much time.