Brynn's Adventures

Jan 28, 2026

A reflection on Elizabeth Gibert’s novel Big Magic

I recently re-read Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel Big Magic. I was hoping that this might provide some insight or direction to help me navigate my recent creative disorientation. If you’ve read my critique of the modern content creator and content creation slop, you’ll understand where I’m coming from. It wasn’t burnout. I yearned to create. I really wanted to make stuff! I just had no idea what to make stuff about anymore. What am I supposed to create when my primary craft of social media content starts to feel more meaningless than ever before?

This isn’t going to be a book review; I think those are a waste of writers’ creative talent and, if I want to know what a book is all about, I’ll read it myself. I invite you to read this article as more of a reflection; perhaps there are some tidbits here that can rekindle your creativity or welcome a genius back into your attic.

I don’t remember when I first read the book, but this time it was much better. The title of the book seemed to pop back into my mind when I needed the novel’s insights the most. The main takeaway I had from revisiting Big Magic was the invitation to live a creative life. This is in contrast to identifying yourself as a creative. Personally, as a creative, I feel this outside pressure to categorize myself: what type of creative am I? A writer? A musician? A painter? I think that these labels are inherently limiting, and there are lots of ideas and anecdotes in Gilbert’s book that corroborate that.

A tale I particularly liked was about Gilbert’s dad. She describes him as a man who does not like being told what to do and always sort of takes his own path. One day, he decided that he wanted to raise goats. He had never raised goats before and had no interest in researching how to do so. Instead, her dad bought some goats, loaded them into his truck, and decided to figure it out. Gilbert describes her father’s way of life as ‘creative living’. I really like that concept.

From my understanding, Gilbert’s concept of creative living sort of seems like flowing wherever the creative wind takes you, and fully accepting it. Sort of like the concept of Michael Singer’s The Surrender Experiment (I love that book, I think I’ve read it three times). Singer, who also authored The Untethered Soul, goes on a journey where he fully surrenders to life and whatever it throws his way. At first, he is reluctant but, as he perseveres, Singer finds himself on a journey he could have never expected. I highly recommend reading this book if you haven’t already. So in my mind, a creative life is somewhat similar to this concept. Gilbert talks about inspiration and ideas as living, energetic things that float through the universe searching for a willing human collaborator. When an idea comes to you, it is your duty to bring it to life. However, if you wait too long, the idea may become bored or restless and move on to find someone else to bring it into the physical realm. Gilbert theorizes that this is why sometimes you will feel like someone stole your next big idea, the idea itself simply got bored of waiting for you to act and found someone who would. As I understand it, living a creative life means snatching up the ideas and inspiration that pick you, surrendering to this journey and following them through to the end.

“The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.”

As creatives feel pressure to pick a lane, there are probably hundreds of ideas that pick an artist but get swept aside or saved for later, never coming to fruition by that specific person. Since ideas are energetically living, it is important to acknowledge the ones that pick you, pick you for a reason. And perhaps these inspirations come to you more subtly than you expect, but that’s why it is vital to pursue your curiosities.

“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow our own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart. The rest will take care of itself.”

Growing up with ADHD, I always had what felt like way too many interests and hobbies all at the same time. I liked to call myself a jack of all trades, master of none. Of course, eventually some hobbies and interests fade into the background for one reason or another, but the more I niche down, the less creative I feel—I should have paid more attention to that.

Through Gilbert’s exploration of curiosity, she implies that niche-ing down is the enemy of creativity. Leaning into those curiosities is vital for living a creative life and welcoming more inspiration to meet you. It’s important not to place expectations on these curiosities and rather to just explore them until the end. She explores curiosity in several ways in her novel, and it reminds me of another concept introduced: combinatory play. Einstein often used this tactic when he was struggling with a math puzzle; he would spend a few hours playing the violin and would usually find the missing piece to his equation. The importance of this is to re-frame your curiosities or side quests, as the internet calls them these days, as productive rather than distracting. These random ideas, callings, and interests are not distracting you from your primary craft; they are experiences that will help feed the main work. The key is to stay in motion and not let a creative block in one genre turn into a complete creative block where you don’t make anything of any sort at all.

I’m not saying that this is going to be easy; you might not want to pursue your curiosity since the end result won’t be good, but for this to work, the emphasis needs to be on the journey, not the end result. That’s why we create things after all, right? For the joy of making something? Gilbert says that to be a joyful, creative person, you must become a “deeply disciplined half-ass”. Perfection is unachievable, and the pursuit of it will, probably at one point or another, stop you from creating anything at all. Perhaps you are familiar with the idea to execution gap. This is a frustrating experience that many artists go through. In your head, you imagine the type of work you can create, but when you actually go to make it, it is not nearly at the level that you feel you can execute. It is only through continuing to make shitty art that you can close that gap. Even though that’s not what you probably want to hear.

“…art is absolutely meaningless. It is however, also deeply meaningful.”

Reflecting on my break from posting or creating at all, the primary reason I stepped away is that I felt everything I was making and consuming was meaningless slop. But now I’m thinking, why do I feel like all of my creations have to have some deep, elaborate meaning? Who am I doing that for? I think that sometimes it feels like creative outputs have to have meaning so that people will take the creator seriously. Personally, it feels like there is a sort of stigma around making something purely for the joy of creation. There are always questions about what it means, the impact of it, or perhaps even the earnings or business you will create from your creativity. Maybe other creatives can relate to this feeling, or perhaps it’s pressure I was putting on myself. Nonetheless, I will keep this quote as my permission to create things that mean nothing at all, simply because I want to.

Big Magic was the little nudge I needed to free myself, as someone living a creative life, to create whatever I want, simply because I want to. I am allowed to follow my different curiosities, I can be bad at them, and I don’t have to pursue anything forever. However, all of these micro-inspirations can perhaps lead me to new opportunities or the big magic that Gilbert talks about if I simply surrender to them. Right now, I’m following the little thought in my head that told me to start writing. I am not a writer, I don’t have a ‘style’, and I’m not in pursuit of a New York Times Bestseller. But here I am, showing up as a disciplined half-ass, for that idea that sought me out, and seeing where it leads me.

Always remember, if it’s your calling, it will keep calling. Just make sure you answer the phone.