Asking for help
Sometimes you just need to ask for help.
Contrary to popular belief, we, the creative types actually don’t do it all by ourselves.
Neither are we tortured souls sitting in dark rooms eating soup/beans/whatever is affordable waiting to be discovered.
Ok.
Maybe someone out there is.
I’ve been there too.
But that romantic notion of the starving artist is best left in the romantic age.
So shhh don’t go around telling everyone.
We never do it alone.
Especially when we are creating, we pretty much exclusively work with teams with specific expertise.
Me?
I definitely have a go-to team.
From the moment I start thinking about what to make next, I start throwing out questions to my trusty group.
"What do you think of this?
Isn’t it interesting that?"
It can definitely sound like I’m initiating some conversation about nothing or about something incredibly specific.
Yup.
That’s the creative process.
This process is also the how I am getting through my PhD journey.
I think some theorists/authors/academics label it as knowledge transference.
All I know is that if it fits, I’m going to use it.
I've never been shy about asking for help.
I see myself in the position to ask as many possible questions at any given time.
Because, why not?
What I have learned is the more I learn, the less I know.
In this foreign academic environment, I have no idea what the right tools are or the right formatting or mainly what's right.
(Though I have signed my ethics form to vouch that all my collected data is not collected through a form of unethical means, so I do know some things that are right from wrong.)
I also know that there's a set of expectations based on the degree I'm pursuing, but at the same time, because I'm not an academic, when I do ask questions which seem basic, I'm rarely penalised or looked down upon.
Also, I have tendency to make that 👆 face when I'm asking for help because I really really want to be aided.
In conclusion: always always ask for help.
Task: When asking doesn't work, ask again.
