Blogpost Assignment

Starting a Podcast and My Complicated Relationship

with Creativity
“Give me room to work with and I’ll Shine.”

Tomorrow I will upload the tenth episode of my Podcast, The Procrastinated Podcast. The past
ten weeks that I’ve been creating my podcast I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity and what
role it plays in who I am and what I want to be.

Creativity has Known Me Since I was Young

I’ve always been a creative kid. I grew up making crafts with my sister and brother and when I
was a kid it was just something to keep me busy and let my mind make its way onto paper.
Even though I may not have realized it, those crafts were the start of my relationship with the
beautiful girl that is creativity.

Creative Can Mean Many Different Things

Creativity is a unique thing as it can take so many different forms and be expressed in so many
different ways. Creativity is useful in most any scenario. Creativity is what can help drive
individualism and separate you from the pack. This past 12 to 15 months have given me a real
chance to sit and think about what I want to be and what kind of career I think I’d like to have.

Things Change Over Time

Much like any 19 to 20-year-old I often run into roadblocks and bumps that overtime have
become all too familiar. I feel it’s possible I’ve known these roadblocks my whole life but only in
the last year or so I’ve really gotten an opportunity to analyze them and see how they play into
who I am.

Creative Expression Takes Time

I remember when I was a kid at my elementary school every year, they had every student make
a book. I always hated the process of making the book it took so long and I felt it dragging on
was unnecessary and tiresome. Also, whenever the book was finally printed and given to me
and my classmates, I didn’t think twice about it and moved on. Now that I look back at those
books as young man, I see stems and branches of my unique and creative brain.
One of my school pictures, I was probably seven or eight.

Kids are Naturally Creative

One particular year we were told to write a story that was my “My life as a ____.” You could fill
that blank with whatever job you wanted. I chose baseball player and the pages that followed
included a new sport being created a baseball game turning into a zoo and the world exploding.
Whether I was a crazy kid or just being creative is up for debate.

I Don’t Like Being Told What I Can’t Do

About 8 years later I was a sophomore in high school, and I was in my mandatory high school
art class. My class was given an assignment to take wooden mannequins and set them up and
draw the shading. I had a quick trigger and thought I was super smart in high school (mainly my
sophomore and junior years), so for some reason at the time I took that as an infringement as
upon my creativity abilities. So, in protest I argued with my teacher and I believe I didn’t even
finish the assignment.
This is another George Harrison themed art project I made my sophomore year.

Give Me Room to Work with and I’ll Shine

Later in the semester we had a printing assignment and from here I started to stride and show
my creativity. I was able to turn the assignment into my own and decided to do prints of Beatles
member, George Harrison, with clouds in the background. It to this day is one of my favorite art
projects I’ve created.

Life Isn’t Always as it Seems

This art and creativity gene expressed itself as I got into college as a thought that I wanted to be
an architect. As I explored this option, I soon ran into a new roadblock one that wasn’t familiar
to me. I realized I had to invest an extended period of time and high effort into this career if I
wanted to chase it. It was the first time I had discovered the reality of the real world. Since then
I’ve continuously tried to find a career shoe that I think might fit.

Always be Moving and Looking Forward

This is where The Procrastinated Podcast comes into the picture. I realized a podcast was a
fantastic steppingstone towards a creativity that is also unique to Matthew Stein. As I’m sitting
here writing this blog post I’m thinking about what’s ahead for me. While I’m currently afraid a
real career will be limiting on my creativity, I look back on how I’ve dealt with limitations in the
past and realize no matter what I’m told, my stubbornness and relentless self-expression will
take me to a place where I can be unapologetically Matthew Stein and do life my own way.