Not everything needs to be explained.

Does every work need to be explained? and why does that question show up so early? Thinking about explanation before the art is even out in the world feels flawed from the jump, since the first reason to create is internal, not external, hopefully.

In this article we try to look at why creators, artists, and others feel the need to contextualize their work before it is even encountered. Maybe it comes from fear. fear of rejection perhaps? hopefully we are going to find out when we finish scrolling this article, maybe something will click.

Once a project is done, the next step is for the world to see it, or witness it you might say, and start forming thoughts and perceptions around the work. That moment often comes with a price for the creative, the repeated realization that not everyone is going to understand the work.

Over time, this leads to the development of a preparation mechanism, a way of being ready before the work even touches the community or the landscape it enters. An explanation is owed in a way, but there is a border where explanation stops being necessary, because not everything needs to be explained.

The true cost of that newly formed habit is that the approach to new work or exploring new techniques becomes more difficult, as the approach itself becomes more secured, often acting from a place of fear and not from exploration. This ultimately affects creative progress, since in this state of mind creative exploration is not celebrated, because that same exploration invites questions.

So what happens when the creative stops justifying their work to the world? Suddenly no idea seems too farfetched. Everything feels possible, and following the same script now starts to feel boring. Once that shift happens, the creative is subconsciously urged to follow and forge a new path, a creative one. A path that not only exposes them to new mediums, techniques, and ideas, but also strengthens the mental capacity that is now open for future endeavors.

The output itself becomes much larger, since fewer questions need to be asked before the work is created and released. The self imposed boundaries are no longer there, and creation starts to feel limitless.

We get it now, there is more freedom to create, but that should not overshadow something much deeper happening at the same time. The sense of over explanation is gone, and it becomes visible in every aspect of life, creative or not creative. In the long term this benefits overall well being, which then reciprocates and creates a continuous loop of balance between creative and non creative worlds. A win win situation!

Maybe trusting the work is enough to change the way we move. If we truly believe something should exist, why does it matter what others might think. Creation should be viewed as a process of honesty, and when something is honest, no further explanation is needed.