Le Pièce de Résistance
Recently, as I presented a casserole made for my grandmother out of a certain canned spare animal parts product, with love as only such a casserole could be made by a vegetarian, I sarcastically exclaimed, with my best French accent — which, according to my middle school French teacher, is pretty darn good — “here is my pièce de résistance!”
Too often, we fail to engage with life because we think our actions will not be consequential. Lack of impact becomes conflated with meaninglessness. We hold back, toiling away in private, until our unique pièce de résistance is ready for the big reveal.
Interestingly, great ideas emerge through immersion in the real world. We can try things out, get laughed at or ignored, and maybe even be appreciated. Regardless of the reaction, sharing our ideas and art with others even in preliminary stages can spark creative evolution. Creativity can also be developed by not taking ourselves and our work so seriously that we feel it is too privileged to be enjoyed by others.
So if you have not yet created or discovered your pièce de résistance, that thing for which you hope to be known and revered, fret not. Not only are you in good company, but that thing or things can be provoked through exploration, trial and error, and open reflection.