Nothing is Neutral

June 17, 2025

There’s this truth that doesn’t often get spoken out loud, maybe because it’s easier not to look at it directly: nothing is neutral. Not really. Every choice we make, every habit we entertain, every thought we let hang around — it’s all shaping us. Whether we realize it or not, everything is either working for us or quietly working against us.

And if you’ve chosen the path of the artist — the creative life — this truth hits a little harder. You begin to notice just how many decisions are constantly in front of you. What to work on. What to read. What to listen to. What to say yes to. What to leave alone. Even the smallest, seemingly harmless choices are soaked in significance when you're building something that comes from the inside out.

The creative life isn’t something you clock into from nine to five. It’s threaded into everything — your mornings, your late nights, your distractions, your rituals, your scrolling, your silences. That’s what makes it beautiful. That’s also what makes it dangerous, if you’re not paying attention.

You can feel it, can’t you? That invisible tug. You spend an hour watching something that doesn’t inspire or nourish you, and afterward there’s that dull sense of having missed a moment that could’ve mattered. You fall into a conversation that leaves you scattered rather than grounded. You keep a habit going not because it fuels you, but because it’s familiar. And slowly, without realizing, your energy starts drifting in the wrong direction.

It’s not about being perfect or hyper-productive. It’s about being awake. Aware. Honest with yourself about what’s working and what isn’t.

Every artist needs to check in — to step back and look at their days like an editor looks at a first draft. Not with judgment, but with curiosity. What here is helping me go deeper? What here is getting in the way? What have I been doing out of habit that no longer fits the kind of work I’m trying to create or the kind of life I’m trying to lead?

Because here's the thing: the choices that seem small — the articles we skim, the music we leave on, the people we keep in our orbit, the way we start our mornings — they add up. They shape the tone and texture of our days, which in turn shapes our work. Nothing is ever just filler. Not for someone who’s trying to make something real.

So if there’s something you’ve been doing that isn’t helping — maybe it once did, or maybe it never really has — it’s okay to let it go. And not just let it go, but replace it. Replace the noise with something quieter. Replace the numbing habit with something that stirs you. Replace the comfort that keeps you stuck with a challenge that calls you forward.

You don’t need to overhaul your life overnight. You just need to begin noticing. Being deliberate. Choosing the path that supports your creative spirit, rather than dulls it.

Because nothing is neutral. Every step is either a return to your true self or a detour. And in the creative life — where your work is a mirror of your inner world — those steps matter more than most.

So walk with intention. Live like your art depends on it. Because it does.