I got into an interesting conversation last night about misery, contentment, idleness, creativity, and motivation. Misery and hardship have been one of the great motivators throughout our past. Obviously, it is when you don't like something that you work to change it. If you're content then you don't work to change something that works for you (if it ain't broke don't fix it), right? Writers, philosophers, artists, activists all came into being to express their pain and, in some cases, their subsequent dynamism to change it. They needed adaptivity/creativity/ingenuity to overcome their situations. They needed an outlet in order to survive, to evince change.

Amazing. To be revered. That the spirit is not crushed, but bubbles over instead.

But then, you have people who have seen those who have come before them. They have seen that it takes a smelting of the internal ores to shine. And they want that. Only--they aren't miserable. Where then should they find this most effective spring of motivation? They've already overcome any foreseeable hardships. So what then, idleness? That burns them. They don't want the hum-drum, they want the exceptional, they want the best. So they create misery to wallow in in the hopes that it will keep them from stagnating. They don't attempt to ward off the things that bite at them because they want the misery to be their motivator.

But it exactly is not. That is broken thought. That is handicapping your spirit. That is insanity.

Creativity can seed, germinate, root, and, blossom in joy. It does not need to be planted on a craggy hillside to grow. Yes, it is amazing when that happens, when that twisted little tree does find the nutrients and handholds on the rockface that it needs to survive. But a tree in good soil can grow amazingly in all of the bounty provided to it as well.

Content does not have to equal complacent. A sense of happiness and satisfaction does not stop creativity. It is a different route to it, like the highway (speed) vs. the scenic route (beauty). Fear and pain may provoke immediate reaction and aversion (the change), but they may not be the best ways to enact that change. There may be a more enjoyable way to learn, if only a little more time were taken to find it. And why would you deny enjoyment when it is so readily available like that? When it is offered up to you?

You shouldn't. It is crazy not to accept it.