Creativity is a strange process.

You know you want to create something. But you're not sure exactly what.

To escape the dread of uncertainty you’ll eagerly embrace any diversion.

That keeps you from noticing the feeling of dread.

But you can't stop feeling the dread unless you start to create.

Even then it doesn't go away completely.

The dread is a reminder that you need to keep on pushing forward, to create what your inner soul is pushing you to create.

To have dreams of any kind is to experience dread. Especially dreams of making your life into what you want it to be.

People will happily tell you you can't have what you dream of having. And they'll even tell you why.

"Chasing dreams is foolish," they keep telling you. And you find comfort in their claim because it justifies your procrastination.

You tell yourself that the reason you're not trying to create what you dream of having is because it's foolish to chase your dreams.

Many people confirm this. But, as comforting as their self-limiting, dream-killing advice is, it doesn't make the feeling of dread go away.

The feeling of dread is relentlessly omnipresent —like being surrounded by darkness. Like a moonless night when you can barely see only a few feet in front of you.

Your dream is about reaching a destination that is very far away.

And to reach that destination you will have to travel the whole time in complete darkness.

This is the main reason you feel dread. Because of the darkness, the not knowing. Not being able to see the path to your dream is dreadful.

To reach your faraway dream destination. you can travel by car. Then you will make progress faster. And you can use the car headlights, to see a bit further down the road.

As El Doctorow, once said about writing a novel. "It's like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

Thinking about that profound truth will allay some of the dread. It helps you to understand that you don't have to travel in complete darkness.

You have headlights and can see directly in front of you. And being able to see directly in front of you is the most important thing.

You can see the road. And if an obstacle appears you can drive around it. Or if the obstacle is big, and you have to get out of the car to deal with it, you can do that.

You will have many obstacles to deal with as you travel.

If you keep your eyes on the path in front of you, the obstacles will not cause as much damage or difficulty, as they will if you don't see them until you hit them.

Some of your difficulty will come from not being sure you're even on the right path to reach your destination.

That notion produces perhaps the most dread.

It sure would be nice to have a map to help guide you.

You stop driving and look in the glove compartment, and are delighted to find a detailed map.

You can now devote all of your attention to studying the map and charting the best route.

You never stop to consider how accurate the map is. Or whether (even if it is perfectly accurate) is the map even relevant to the journey you're taking?

It doesn't tell you where you are now, nor does it show you your destination.

Frankly, you don't know your destination enough to recognize it even if it did appear on a map.

You'll know you've arrived at the right place, only once you've arrived.

So, a map isn't really going to help you get to your destination.

And the map slowed your progress because you've wasted time studying it, instead of driving. The only good thing the map did was to temporarily eliminate feelings of dread and apprehension.

Now you've learned a valuable lesson. You can't make progress without feeling apprehension.

As soon as you consult the map you stop making progress.

What are you looking for anyway? It's actually not a physical destination.

What you're looking for is some kind of truth. Truth that matters to you beyond all measure.

Your truth.

Very few people are trying to find their truth. Most don't even think about such lofty things as truth. 

Most people believe what they were raised to believe is true. And there’s nothing else to think about.

They have maps that were given to them at a young age. They will never surrender their source of existential security. 

They would rather sit in motionless cars studying the map they were given. They also enjoy being with others who have the same map. 

They decry people with different maps. They’ll even fight them.  Because those people cannot be trusted. 

Knowing whom you can trust is important to people. Very important. 

And thus map sharing is very important. 

So…

Now that you’ve considered this whole business of trying to reach an important truth that you cannot quite yet describe... 

Maybe you at least finally understand the true nature of that constant, annoying feeling of existential dread.

And the question now is: what are you going to do about it?