Inspiration vs. Influence
I'm an input junkie, an idea hoarder.
Like some people who collect clothes or always need the latest and greatest tech — I need to know the next "life-changing" idea.
I'm not proud of this fact. Lately, I've found myself surrounded by so many thoughts, ideas, and opinions from other people that I've lost my own inner voice. And if you're an artist, you know that can be devastating for your creations.
It's no secret that social media is flooding my brain with garbage content and ads, slowly degrading my sense of self and stealing my attention away from creating. I often thought that I could counteract this if I focused on increasing my content consumption through slower mediums like books and podcasts. Surely that would fix it.
Well, noise is noise, content is content. I realized that I'm never quiet, never bored. I'm always listening to music, to podcasts or audiobooks. I'm in the middle of reading five books at one time. I'm scrolling... Instagram, Substack, and Google search results. I find myself exhausted by the task of sorting out the influence from the inspiration.
This got me thinking about the difference between being inspired and being influenced. At first glance, they may seem very similar. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of inspiration is “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” Whereas influence is “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.”
Both inspiration and influence can move a person to action; however, inspiration can be independent of another person and often leads to creation. Influence largely comes from external sources, mainly through the persuasion of another person, and in the context of content, usually leads to consuming.
My silly little Venn diagram of Inspiration vs. Influence
Venn Diagram of Inspiration vs. Influence
I'm always seeking, always consuming, never still. It doesn't seem to matter what the subject is. Most of the content I consume is about relatively benign subjects like gardening, art, philosophy, poetry, and health & wellness. However, constantly flooding my brain with input has made it nearly impossible for me to create any creative output. I’m drowning out the inspiration with the influence of others.
I find myself thinking the only way out of this mental fog is by doing a complete detox. Everyone talks about a digital detox or social media detox, but mine would be much more robust: no music, no books, no internet searching (except for doing my job), no TV, no movies, no podcasts.
While I'm not sure if I could maintain this for very long, I'm curious to see what I would find on the other side. I think there may be some withdrawal symptoms, such as replaying all the recent content I've consumed in my mind and confusion over what thoughts are mine and which are the voices of the influencer. Maybe I'll be miserable, faced with my real problems and creative blocks. Maybe I'll be bored. Maybe I'll be afraid of the empty space.
But I'm convinced that after a time, I would start to feel a bit more free. I obviously love books and music too much to renounce them forever, but maybe the subject matter would change. I wouldn't be searching for answers as much. I would be able to find inspiration in my everyday life and within myself.
As artists, we do need input. We need inspiration with which to filter through our unique experience to create something new and authentic. But, as with everything in life, too much of a good thing often becomes a bad thing. If you're constantly consuming content, you're more susceptible to the direct influence of others, good or bad.
Look instead to find the inspiration within.
