Reflections Ep. 19

Soundproof Creatives is all about creating creative communities. We’ve been creating communities and being a part of them for years. Talking to someone who attributes their growth to being in and finding their own creative community was such a treat for us. 

Thee Charles Hines has been a poet since they wrote their first broken-hearted love poem in middle school. They grew up being fascinated with words, the way words sound & each have meaning. A lot has changed for Charles since being a child, but their love of words has never faded. 

From high school, to college, and beyond, the thing to know about Charles is they always pursued what they loved, and they avidly pursued people who loved the same thing. 

“The quickest way to become fantastic at anything is to surround yourself with people who do it well.”

When you listen to Charles’ podcast on season four you see how they attribute becoming an expert to two things 1) putting in the thousand hours it takes for someone to become an expert in anything and 2) putting themselves in creative communities where they could do what they loved.

There’s a poet you respect? An artist you are amazed by? A creative who has chops you only wish you could have? Stay after. Talk to them. Ask them where they learned. Ask them to help you get connected to spaces you are looking for so you can become better at your craft. We get good at what we do because we share spaces where we can learn from others. We don’t become good at what we do in a vacuum. 

It can be hard to find spaces and communities where we can fully be ourselves. Creatives often feel alone in their pursuit of their creative outlet. But here’s the secret, the people out there who you’re looking for are looking for you too. Trust us. They are waiting for you to stick around, find out, come to the meeting, join the team. You are not alone in your pursuit of creative spaces and places. And they are out there looking for you, too.  

“This is what I love to do and I need to find out how to do it here.” -Thee Charles Hines

Along every part of Charles’ journey in poetry, they looked for spaces where they could do what they loved. The love of our art form can drive us to go beyond, get out of our comfort zone, and find the creative communities we are looking for.