Pause. Breathe.

Don’t race past this next question…

Because your creative future hangs on the honesty of your answer:

What was the first thing you made that made you feel alive?

Not the first thing that earned claps. Not the first thing that earned cash.

I’m talking about the first spark that felt like you had stumbled into a hidden chamber of your own soul.

For me, I was ten years old...

I kept having the same nightmare over and over again.

Back to back sleepless nights.

Until one night I rolled out of bed and drew a picture of my dream.

Time disappeared. I stood inside myself reorganizing my fears. And the nightmare never returned.

Maybe you were seven, scribbling in the margins of your notebook while the world dissolved around you.

Or fifteen, journaling words into the dark, finally freeing the language you’d been carrying for years.

Or even twenty-five, strumming chords, realizing a melody had been living inside you long before you ever touched a guitar.

That moment…that flash of life…that’s your North Star.

That’s your original why. And somewhere along the way you misplaced it.

Teachers told you what was “correct.” Critics told you what was “worthy.” Markets told you what would “move.”

Inch by inch, your “why" mutated.

“I create because I have something to say” warped into “I create because that’s what sells.”

Some will call it naive to return to your first why.

I believe the opposite…

I believe what’s naive is thinking you can build a lifetime of meaningful work on anything but the elements of your authentic self.

History’s most raw artists didn’t abandon their why.

They expanded it, yes. They evolved it, yes.

But they never let go of the tether connecting them to their original why.

So tonight, take a moment to shut off the noise. The algorithms. The responsibilities.

Let it all fade to silence.

And then ask yourself:

What was the first thing you made that made you feel alive?

That answer is your fingerprint.

That’s the signature that belongs on everything you touch.

The birthplace of your real voice.

And that voice is timeless.

And it’s time for you to trust it again.

Stay creative,

Way Walker