Creator vs Consumer

Creator vs Consumer

Legos are a great way
to start creating.

It often seems like we've got to pick a side in a variety of "binary" topics today...left vs right...pro-choice vs pro-life...mustard vs ketchup...baseball vs football.  Oftentimes, in reality, we have a gray zone in the middle that is moderation and likely a healthy place to reside.  This isn't a lukewarm approach but rather a more realistic approach to doing life in a community and society...being less polarized than the world tends to force upon us.  In this realm, we want to talk about the dichotomy of creator vs consumer.  

We get better the more
we practice.

Consumer vs creator - when we talk about this, you get a choice to become a creator...or a consumer.  In our modern era of kids saying they want to be influencers or content creators...fewer and fewer of us are creating anything.  Think about your lifestyle as compared to your ancestors...when was the last time you created something you wore, ate, drove, or used?  Our great-grandparent's generation likely had a garden, created clothing, and perhaps even tools.  Today, we likely purchase all of those items...or in other words, consume someone else's (or more likely a factory's) creations.  

We can create
things like
responsibility...which
is contagious.

As we unpack this, creation takes guts...far more than consuming.  Creation is a process of failure, rising, continuing, failing, and continuing again.  With consumption, we simply have to show up...and consume.  This goes for media, food, attention, or whatever else.  Consumption is often far more comfortable than creation.  It's often far easier than creation.  It's also far less satisfying, character-forming, and useful to others than creation.   In many ways, the essence of the Teddy Roosevelt quote (this blogs namesake), the "man in the arena" is a creator...not a consumer.  

Creation is 
made up of 
building 
blocks.

As we talk about our lives and our children as creators, we must realize that some people (perhaps even us) make amazing content (or other items).  Others make mediocre items.  Chances are, all of the good ones made worse creations at the beginning of their journey.  Along the creation path, the creators paid their dues, hit the street grinding, and used their path to learn, implement lessons, and get better than when they started.  Creation is a vulnerable state where a participant has to be active.  They have to show up and try, then try again...they have to put themselves out there.  Consumers...none of that is true.  The patterns, habits, and essence of a creator give you the ability to create in other parts of life - health, happiness, wealth, and other less tangibles are products of creation...not consumption.  

Too many people do no creation...ever.  Only consumption.  Historically we had to create in order to consume as a pre-req.  We had to grow our food to eat it.  We had to write our books before we could read them.  Now, instant gratification, AI, and other comfort-creating things are making the need for creators increasingly scarce.  You could "survive" on pure consumption with big box deliveries and fast food delivery.  This is increasingly common with things like DoorDash, grocery delivery, and other modern creature comforts...they're also making us, as a society, and a species increasingly soft.  

Baby steps add up.

At a certain level, we are what we consume - food becomes fuel or fat - depending on if we choose consumption or creation.  When we consider media/content - we become more of what we watch through polarization in the echo chamber that algorithms feed us.  The lack of modern creation, or perhaps more accurately, constant consumption makes us less patient.  In yesteryear, we had to do a ton of work to get a particular meal...now we push a button on our phone.  We used to have to wait for a weekly newspaper or the 6pm news...now we have push notifications.  This sort of consumption makes us far less patient...which translates to how we interact with our loved ones and co-workers.  

We can build 
big dreams...
and treehouses.

We slowly become what we consume.  Like a river cutting through a canyon, we, over time have grooves that are cut in us - read/watch/listen to the Bible, we became more like that.  Pour filth in your ears, eyes, and everything else...and, over time, you're full of filth.  Long term, what we consume, also becomes we tend to create if we make that choice...overtly or subtly.  It'd be one thing if you consumed filth and it stopped with you...but it oozes out in our daily life.  In many cases, our consumption comes out with direct outputs, but in many cases it comes out in the way we do life and/or how we pour into our loved ones.  Abusers tend to raise future abusers.  Fortunately, creators also tend to raise future creators.  This means you've got a huge responsibility and privilege to be a role model for those around you...especially your family.  

Creations start
with small dreams.

Creators...more than consumers...raise the bar and push the needle.  When you think about historical figures...those folks who have biographies written about them...were all creators.  Some were creating movements, empires, nations, dreams, maps, inventions...they weren't known for consumption.  When you talk about what you want your kids to become...it's likely not focused on consumption.  No matter what your kids are into...hopefully it's creation...creating scholars, leaders in Sunday school, baseball players...whatever flavor, the hope is they create, not consume.  

Lastly, as we close, remember, that we're made in the image of our Creator...God made us to go forth and create...in the world around us and to create more disciples.  By practicing creation (instead of consumption) and keeping a balance, we become closer to our creator - His hands, feet, and mouthpiece.  All of this to say, practice creating small things, over and over, and we become creators.  Habits become ingrained.  When you catch yourself in a consumption season...go create...write a poem, build a treehouse, plant a garden...just create.  As a parent, we're "creating" a new generation...practice makes perfect...create!

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Pick out three things that you're going to create in the next month.  Talk to your family and put the building blocks (schedule, budget, etc) in place to make something new.  
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) in terms of creating/consuming - planting a garden, getting rid of streaming, etc.  

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Become a Creator...content...but the steps can be a parallel.