Compromised Vision

I’d like to know the person who can take what they see or hear in their head and put it out into the world exactly as it was in there. The one thing I’ve found to be true in all my creative endeavors to this point in my life is that they come to be through a series of compromise. Sometimes you can be bound by physical limitations - your skill might not match what’s required to realize the idea, you may not have the space to build the thing you saw in your dreams, you may not have the time to get everything exactly right. Other times the compromise may be interpersonal - there could be miscommunications or a difference in opinion and you have to meet somewhere in the middle. Sometimes you may just realize the idea wasn’t fully formed and so you change it along the way. I had to learn to not let the difference between the original idea and the finished product taint the experience of making the thing. At the end of the day, completing the task is a great feat of strength, and the compromises likely made it better or presented an opportunity to learn and refine my craft. Still though, there’s a part of me that will always chase that pure expression. Maybe it’ll happen one day.

-J.P.