Am I an artist?

Here we are, day 3 of writing down my thoughts. I feel like it is acceptable to call this a pattern at this point. I really have no idea if anyone has read more than a sentence in any of these entries. As discussed in The Resistance, I must not focus on that, or I will end up not writing for 3 months. 

It reminds me of the definition of an artist that I heard recently. It is someone who does something in a way that uses more energy than is required to do the essential aspects of that something. So, there is a way that you can do a process and that is functional. Then, there is a way that requires more effort, and the results are worthwhile to someone. I like that definition because it opens a large umbrella that places me in the category of an artist. I suspect most people in healthcare would see themselves as an artist in some area of their life using that definition. That is a choice I face daily in the hospital. I could just do the job and be done with it. The alternative is taking extra time to tend to the things that I think are important but not required. I could learn more about my patient’s life, I could spend extra time teaching a medical student about why a topic is important, or I could go say thank you to one of the many people whose daily work in the hospital makes it possible for the hospital to function. Those seem like obvious things to do, yet I would say that I inconsistently make that choice.  

Improv has helped me make that choice to be an artist in my approach to the day. The few scenarios I suggested above provide minimal immediate benefit and are often some of the first activities on the chopping block during a busy day in the hospital (that ends up being all the days btw). On the improv stage, as in life, there is a time to make the simple choice that keeps the action moving. Too much of that and the show will be very boring. A boring show is worse than an unfunny show. When I am on the improv stage, I feel the immediacy of making a bold choice. I also am immediately rewarded for making a bold choice that is still in keeping with established reality. Those choices lead to those scenes that bring deep pleasure and make me chuckle long after leaving the stage, often for weeks or months. I can feel the difference in the scenes where people make the bold choice grounded in a shared reality. In life I know that making the decision to push beyond the basics is what will lead to my happiness at work and provide a deeper sense of meaning to my job. Knowing and feeling is quite different. The feeling usually comes after many years from isolated incidents. I have received letters from previous learners that are quite meaningful and let me know that the juice is worth the squeeze overall. That can be forgotten in the business of each day. Remembering the feeling I felt by making a bold choice based on a shared reality, as is ideally done on the improv stage, provides the framework to do that each day, no matter how small the interaction. So rather than a vague sense of desiring more from my job or to be better at my job. Improv has taught me a framework to make small steps in each moment to find meaning in my job. That makes me an artist and allows me to appreciate the people taking an artistic approach to their life and work. If you have made it to the end, please comment if you think you are an artist and why!