So the other evening I was walking back to my car from having gone to some art gallery opening after work, reflective of my new ethos to “get out in the world,” you know, after having concluded that this would do me good, as I’ve been hunkered down in my little hobbit hole way too long. Time, I was thinking, to see some new sights, fresh faces. I was enjoying the chilly freshness of the early spring evening, along with the satisfaction of being out in the mix by myself—free to stop in a shop, or grab a table at an outdoor restaurant, or just plain mill around--when I looked up and happened to see a small poster mounted on the inside of a storefront I was passing by simply consisting of a quote from George Bernard Shaw—“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

I had to laugh to myself, as I’ve learned from experience that such seemingly coincidental, random occurrences can sometimes be just that but on the other hand can be synchronistic signs—in this case, a sign that was an actual, physical, sign. You know when you’re in the presence of such a sign—a communication from (hmmm….where? or whom, exactly?) because it speaks to you—it connects with you, in that it answers a question you’ve been wrestling with, or confirms some conclusion you’ve finally reached but may be doubting, or mirrors some situation you’re going through. And this particular quote very much put into words what I have been grappling with for the past few years, if not longer, which in a nutshell is the fact that I now have the time to decide what I want my life to be. I no longer am simply responding to the needs of others, but am faced with the big, gaping, blank page that all of us grapple with, whether we’re writers, or painters, or recent divorcees or simply high school juniors figuring out what electives to take in our senior year.

Most of us think of ourselves as either “creative” or not, based on whether or not we can draw, or write poetry, or have a knack for dressing ourselves interestingly, or what have you. But we don’t tend to think of ourselves as being creative if we can’t do those things that are acknowledged in our culture as being creative. In fact, the proof of all of us being creative is, as George Bernard Shaw said, in our lives. Take a look around you, at what you would refer to as your life. Did it all just happen to you? And yes, there are certainly aspects of our lives that do just happen to us—we can lose a parent when we’re small, or be born into a squalid setting, or very wealthy setting, or become very ill, or become widowed, or lose a child, or have a tornado wipe out our house. Aside from things like that, if you consider your life as being this cumulative product of all of the decisions and choices you’ve made ever since you’ve been old enough to make such choices, you’ll see that you have had and continue to have enormous creative power.

Understandably, there are some of us who are very uncomfortable with the idea of wielding such power, as it’s scary. There’s the scariness of making a decision and then regretting it, and there’s the scariness of letting the window in which you can make a decision pass you by, and regretting that. Creating is a scary process, because by its very definition, you are bringing something into being that has never existed before, and therefore there is no guaranteed outcome. The you who has decided to get married to a particular other is creating a specific situation that has never existed before. The you who has decided to end a marriage you’ve had with a particular other for a particular set of circumstances is charting new territory. The book you have decided to write has never been written before. The room you are envisioning painting orange has never existed before as you are envisioning it. The you who is applying for the new job has never applied for that job in that firm before at this particular time. The you who has decided to have a baby has either never been a mother or a father before, or has never been a mother or father to this particular child before.

It is interesting that the world knows when it has lost a truly creative soul. And while yes, we’re all creative to a certain extent because we’re human and there’s no way not to be creative, there are some who really seem to rise to the challenge and engage in the process with such determination and fearlessness (or maybe willingness to move through the fear) that the rest of can only look on in admiration and maybe allow ourselves to be inspired. RIP Prince.