Cook That Egg Like It Matters

So something has shifted.  

I hear people say we’re “back to normal” after COVID. The days aren’t filled with newness or clarity or longing or hope anymore. They’re coated in a kind of unrest. A disquiet. A strange hollowness that sits just beneath the surface. A feeling of being unsettled, incomplete… maybe even useless. I can’t remember the last time I thought of so many synonyms for one feeling! OK one last one, ‘dormant’!

That state of not feeling inspired, not getting ideas, not being able to create and move forward is all too commonly felt. Like a volcano under the ground, aching to erupt. But it’s buried beneath layers of distraction, exhaustion, anxiety, and decay.

Has the thrill gone? The first time I heard the phrase “Eat. Sleep. Play. Repeat,” I found it decadent and unimpressive. But now it’s become something far worse: “Eat. Sleep. ‘it’s fine not to do much’, Repeat.” It’s not just mundane, the danger lies in normalising that. That silent debauchery. Not the wild, feverish, rule-breaking kind. But the kind where rebellion has been reduced to what your thumbs can swipe. To what you can shout without your name showing. Rebellion today is numbness. And creativity has no room to breathe in numbness.

So where did inspiration go? Is it hiding? Did we lose it? Was it stolen by some digital force? Maybe it’s at the end of a digital rainbow crafted by AI. Just more… content that’s taking us further and further away from the essence of life. Creation.

We  are standing staring up at  UFO’s, frozen, afraid, helpless, assuming the end is inevitable. Creativity has not died. Creativity is what builds civilisations. All civilisations fall and new ones are built. Reinvented. Not as a product, not as performance, but as progress. Be it in the arts or sciences or the abstract.

So what is creativity, really? It’s not big, it’s not explosive, it’s not even brilliant most of the time. It’s progress. It's a movement. One step. Then another. Forward.

Creativity is all around us. In everything we do. It’s in the egg we make for breakfast. In the way you clean your room. In the way you decorate your world. In the way you do your job. In the way you lead others. In how you perceive. It’s in how you do something you’ve done a hundred times, but this time, with clear and stronger  intention.

Not innovation. Not ambition. But intention. And to do that we focus on Empathy, Awareness and Slowing down. If you’re looking for a place to start, start small. Start with an egg. Let’s call it the Egg Manifesto.

Make your egg or whatever you like the way you want it. Not perfect, just present. Taste the salt. Hear the sizzle. Smell the butter. Be grateful that you even have an egg. Be grateful you’re able to cook it. Then extend that energy outward. To your partner. Your friend. Your family. A stranger. Your job, and finally—yourself.

Compare the hours spent scrolling on your phone for a month to just one hour of doing something, playing the piano, reading, cooking, meditating, creating a passion project, exercising.  After a month ask yourself what leaves you feeling fuller. Why not educate ourselves further? Now we can even choose any subject we like! We’re not in school anymore! We can make our own choices! Why don’t we build ourselves back up? Stop letting external influences tell you how to feel, how to live, how to be. I am not referring to this article!

Ever wonder why people get left out of the mainstream of culture, art,  work, recognition,  society? The only conclusion I can draw is that it’s to do with ‘contribution’. Inclusion is directly proportional to contribution. The system overlooks those who seem not to contribute. That’s when you actually get left behind. In a world overflowing with content but starving for meaning the artist, the creator, the leader, the sage, the caregiver, the lover, the jester, the magician, the explorer, the human who chooses meaning over ‘Eat, Sleep, Play, Repeat”, matters more than ever. Technology is a tool so treat it like one. It cannot offer resonance. That’s what we do. So cook that egg like it matters.

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