Inside Pixar: We're About Telling Stories (and other creative ideas)

This is what I want to do. I want to tell stories. Stories that matter and make people feel things.
When all is said and done, I want my time on this earth to be remembered, my name to be remembered. Does it need to be all big and flashy? No, no it doesn't. But it will be remembered.

Why do I bring up Pixar and creativity and stories?

Well I remember when I was a kid and arts and crafts were a big part of school. I wish I could say that I did my own thing, followed the beat of my own drum.

Nope 

I colored in the lines, I colored pictures with socially acceptable colors. I am NOT saying that that's bad. The colors I picked made the picture look pretty. I'm not saying I regret coloring in the lines.

I regret not letting myself play. 

I didn't let myself try. 

I realize that it's something that I've always done. It's not that I think elephants shouldn't be pink. It's just that technicolor pachyderms are really too much for me.

Oh yeah, I went there.

But really I don't know, I just didn't let myself play. I didn't explore what it would be like to draw a purple elephant and a pink seal (because those two together is a thing).

Maybe I cared too much what other people thought. Yes my pictures looked pretty and I was happy with them. What I didn't do, however, was let myself go (cue Frozen soundtrack).

Enough of that.

I think that what I regret now is that because I didn't explore then, it's harder to explore now. It's a habit, a very, very, very hard habit to break.

I want to explore that kind of creativity, but I don't know how. 

How does one go from coloring in the lines to embracing the blank space outside the lines? I still like what can be done inside the lines, but I can't branch outside nor can I change the colors of the picture.

I found an article (Coloring Outside the Lines) that really got to me. I want to be right, I want to be seen as right (oh my gosh, I sound self-centered, don't judge me) by society.

It'll take time, but I think I could work on that. I could try that with writing. Writing stories that make me happy, that aren't just 'what's right'. Who knows, maybe they'll be awful or maybe they'll be spectacular. The point is I tried, I explored and that must be all I can ask for, right?