I’ve been thinking about originality lately. I’ve come to the conclusion that I probably have no real originality, at least not as I’ve been trying to uncover it in myself. Everything I do has been done before. Most of what I say has been learned by reading books or listening to other people.
Do you know, I really, really struggle with this. I have, ever since I was in high school and my sister would say things like “pegged me in the head” or “I just stubbed my pigs.” I thought she was SO.COOL thinking of things like that. Since hanging out online, I’ve witnessed even more brilliance and originality – everybody has something catchy to say.
It is hard not to wish that I was my sister. Or these other people who are pithy, witty, and downright amazing. It’s hard not to want my photos to be just like the photos of the photographers I admire. And it’s hard to put myself out there with my astounding lack of originality and pretend that I still feel comfortable existing when so many other people are more original than I am.
But here’s what I’ve figured out: It’s okay to do it anyway. To be me, a little stuck-in-the-mud, hung up on beauty, and sometimes-clichéd. It’s okay to say it anyway – even if it’s been said before. Even if somebody else has said it better. Even if five other people you follow write blog posts on the same thing in the span of a week.
Originality – or the lack thereof – doesn’t always mean success, but putting you out there is a pretty good recipe for achieving it, whatever you look like.
So I’m a little redundant sometimes. So I’m still learning and growing in what I make and do and say. So everybody else is smarter or prettier or pithier than I am. OKAY.
I am alive in the world, and I’m meant to be me. The most important thing is that I am the me God created me to be, that I stop wishing He’d made me someone else. Speaking, doing, writing, living what is true to my heart – that is original to me. Choosing not to let the rest of the world force me to be someone else just to achieve greater originality – that is me, being original.
If you’ve got something on your heart to say or be or do – then DO it, even if somebody else has said or been or done it before. It’s the YOU in it that makes it unique.
FILED UNDER: Branding, Grace, Originality, Personal
Oh, I read a quote just the other day. I wiah I could remember WHO said it, because sometimes I know that matters, but the gist of the quote was that the ancients stole their ideas from him. And I’m reading over at Jeff Goin’s site, and he says (and a lot of others apparently) that great writers steal. I would say the same for all creatives. We see something and take it and go with it. Sometimes it looks a lot like the original and sometimes it becomes something all on it’s own. And they are both beautiful. And as I read on another blog today, we are unique because only YOR are riht where you are able to do what you do. Like Esther. And see, this entire comment has been quotint or referencing others. BWAHA! So not planned, but it works. ;)
Oh. Typo horror.
Once when I was saying something like the sentiments in this blog to my cousin he pointed out a beautiful thought: that while nothing I have to say is really original (Ecclesiastes, anyone?), I may say it in a way that someone needs to hear it. It seems God’s heart is relationship, and He so often uses others to communicate Himself to us–and sometimes I can hear the same truth from many sources but don’t understand until it’s said different, or by someone specific. So keep saying and doing what you know, Kelly, and you never know who will truly hear or see Truth because of it.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this. so true and i often find myself comparing my work to others, it is our eyes and our taste that help create it into our own! i had a long talk about this with a girlfriend the other day but after a lot of thought realized that i am my own worst critic and that i probably see a million other photographers work more than any of my non-creative friends because that is what i study, so for them to see my work is a taste into my world from my perspective. i feel like i am talking myself in circles, but i get it. and i love what you wrote! xo
Perhaps you do say things that have already been said. And perhaps you do make photos the way other people do. BUT, I read YOUR words, not their words. I look at YOUR photos, not their photos. So if you don’t say it and you don’t make it, I won’t hear it and I won’t see it. I would miss out on the beauty you were made to create and share. And I’m sure I’m not the only one! ;)
Oh, how I needed to hear this today.
I love your photography and I think you are very original. Please don’t be hard on yourself your gift is from God. He will direct your path and bless it as HE wishes. Just keep taking pictures.
You are not alone. ;) See here (just wrote something vaguely similar) http://sprittibee.com/2012/06/mommy-blogger-unedited.html
Amen! I’ve struggled with this same thought numerous times since about high school. Even when you THINK you are original, SOMEONE has probably come up with the same idea before. There truly is “nothing new under the sun.”
BUT we are each our own person, with our own hearts, our own thoughts, our own ways of expression. Even if someone else has said or written or created something very similar, it’s the YOU in it that makes it unique and special, to YOU even if to no one else. But chances are, quite a few people out there will THINK you are the only person in the world to have come up with the idea, even if you know you aren’t. ;-)
LOVE this. Ab.so.lute.ly love it. Beautifully said – and I also love the comments, especially the one from Shelli – YOU need to say it, YOU need to shoot it…and then it is authentically original, because it’s coming from you and you are one of a kind. Amen. Preach it!
And I truly believe you are much too critical of yourself, young lady! Original OR not, your art is profound and enjoyable.
Very well said
Kellybells I think you are totally original :) And have the world’s best ability to connect with people and the best laugh too :) And I love how you paint with light :)
“I’m alive in the world…” Love that. Love this. I want to drive to Charleston and pay you to capture me being alive in the world.
Dear Kelly,
Thanks. You have put into words an issue that I have been wrestling with for so long
This was such an encouraging post. I’ve been thinking more and more about what I want to write, and I was thinking that there was nothing new for me to write. But after reading this it encourages me to keep writing, even if I do write what someone else writes. Thank you so much for sharing from your heart. :)
One of the highest compliments I’ve ever gotten was that one of my photos looked like one of yours. xoxo
Kelly, speaking from having lived over six decades I have come to believe that there really isn’t much that is original. However, I also believe we are all unique originals. You and I may say the very same thing, but it will look very different. You will reach some; I will reach others.
When I met you in person, I was struck by how beautiful you are and how very much your own person. Just between you and me, I wished I could be a little more like you. I’m the original stick-in-the-mud!
Well, all I know is that sometimes I see a photo on the web and think, “Isn’t that a Kelly Sauer?” And it is. That’s something, isn’t it?
Sometimes it takes a little more actual living to come to a place where we accept ourselves and can hug ourselves without comparing ourselves to others. I think you have managed to articulate your feelings very well in this piece. Most of us have felt like this at some point in our lives. When we absolutely end the comparison game…that is when we become the whole person we are meant to be. That takes time …
[...] was a question that haunted me as I tried to be original even as I was doing what others were doing: “How can a trend be truly [...]