Creativity in many ways is not a big deal. But it also is. It's a holy process passed down to us by evolution or some higher-ups you believe in, and it's something you can do pass the time. It can save someone from an artistic block or depression or both. If you're inclined to tap into the voice that says it'd be really nice if I took the time to *fill in the blanks* write, paint, read, draw, cook, garden, and so on, what typically stops us even before we get started is the pressure of not just doing the thing, but doing it well and doing it so other people think what we've done is "worthwhile." Creativity has become a big shadow over so many, myself included, because of the ugliness aka capitalism and tortured artist syndrome attached to it. If what you make doesn't get you something material out of it - money, fame, notoriety, elite connections - society doesn't think it's worth doing. Worse than that, creativity doesn't seem to be something we pour into over years of failures and successes, it's just something that happens over night. We shouldn't have to feel like we're hurting ourselves to make art that stands out or impactful, but the act of expressing and putting ourselves out there is scary and vulnerable.

Creativity is everything but it's also nothing. Gilbert's casual voice helps make creativity down-to-earth and doable; it feels like she's having a conversation with you over coffee that makes you both absorb the grandness of creativity but also feel like making any kind of art relateable and doable. She breaks down creativity in a way that makes you close the book feeling like it's an individual's process full of magic everyone can tap into but it's up to you to have the trust and determination to follow through. The lightbulb moment that it took for Elizabeth Gilbert to write "Big Magic" resembles the similar lightbulb moment I had to read it and want to share my thoughts. Her take is a best-seller. My take just sits on goodreads. The processes are different, but the results are the same thing: we both made something we felt like making. That said, Gilbert is here to give a permission slip to be creativity, but it doesn't really go further than that and can feel repetitive. An interjection to include post-chapter questionnaires for the reader to examine what kind of fears makes them stop pursuing creativity or explore the ideas that they've had and let go of would've added a little something extra. As much as I enjoyed that this was a casual manifesto, it does come across as a bit too simplified - it's really up to the individual to take the lessons to heart and go for it.