So What’s The Story Behind The Creative Uprising?
It’s An Idea On The Rise
The last decade has seen an unprecedented explosion of creative expression. Sites like YouTube have given people a platform to share their talents in a way unparalleled in human history.
When someone creates something that is truly impressive, we know that it can grab the attention of millions in a matter of days and weeks. Equally, those who rely on an audience who are willing to buy their creations can now reach a global fanbase even without the big-bucks backing of a major corporate media outlet.
These truths have given rise to an idea…an idea with the power to change the world: That you can do what you love and make a living doing it.
No More ‘Best Thing To Do’
So many of us heard, perhaps from teachers, parents, peers, the almost exact opposite, that the best thing for you to do was to excel in school, get your grades, and hopefully go to university, because then you’d be sure to get a safe job.
Nevermind if you didn’t enjoy what you were doing. Enjoyment was saved for retirement, that golden period where, after working 40 hours a week for 40 years of your life, you could retire and enjoy yourself…except that by te time you got to retirement age, you’d probably be too old to do the things you’d really have wanted to do if, back when you were 30, someone had given you an unlimited bank account and told you to take early retirement.
I don’t deny that the linear path laid out above may well have been the ‘best thing to do’ 30 years ago. Back then, if you had a degree, you were pretty much guaranteed a job upon leaving university. Today 1 in 4 graduates are unemployed a year after leaving university, and youth unemployment is at record levels.
The ‘best thing to do’ no longer works.
A Way of Life
Thankfully, as we saw in the opening paragraphs, a new idea is on the rise, an idea that resonates strongly with today’s tech-savvy and connected young minds (and old minds – you should see my dad on his iPad!).
‘The Creative Uprising’ is the name I give to this powerful idea, which suggests that there has never been a more opportune time to both make living and make a profound difference to the world by doing whatever it is that most brings you alive – what I term your ‘gift’.
Part of the reason I have created this blog and written Creative Uprising is because an idea without consistent, persistent action will remain, at best, a hobby. To make your joy a viable vocation, you must make mastering your particular gift a way of life.
Oh…and if you’re anything like me, you’ll need some support along the way, which is why I will be giving my all (hopefully with contributions from yourself) to grow this blog into a thriving community of creative souls dedicated to doing what they love and to supporting their fellow human brothers and sisters to keep taking the inspired action that will see them and their communities thrive.
A Movement Gathering Momentum
By living The Creative Uprising, I believe we are doing vital work. AS i explain in the book, science is now proving what ancient spiritual teachins have always maintained – that all life is connected and nurtured by a energetic force that is loving in it essential nature. This means that when we seek to live our joy in service to people and planet, life supports us to make a powerful contribution to creating a better world.
We are a movement that is gathering momentum, ushering in a sea-change in the story of what it means to be human, shifting life from a paradigm of disconnected, violent scarcity to one that is entirely more life sustaining, founded upon true connection, peace and abundance.
This is the work of our earth-time, and we achieve it by living The Creative Uprising in the way that most inspires us as we share our gift with the world.