I disagree. People get angry at the exercise of creativity.

Look at the reaction to the financial independence/lifestyle design. People HATE them. Tell many Americans that you're going to stop working for six months to read books in Thailand and they will despise you.

There are so many upsides to creativity, and so much human potential for it - the thing that stops most is the shame that gets splashed on you every time. And then you start splashing it yourself. And that's the game.

I like this comment because it reminds me of a quote from the late 60s movie Easy Rider, where a pair of guys take their motorcycles across the country in pursuit of "freedom." I think it has the same general sentiment and some interesting historical/societal connotations. Here's the quote (note that George is played by Jack Nicholson, whose other famous quote from this movie involves Venutians interbreeding and living among us...):

  George Hanson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country.
    I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
  Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened.
    Hey, we can't even get into like, a second-rate hotel,
    I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig?
    They think we're gonna cut their throat or somethin'. They're scared, man.
  George Hanson: They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.
  Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
  George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
  Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.
  George Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right.
    But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things.
    I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace.
    Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free,
    'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin'
    to prove to you that they are.
    Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you,
    and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom.
    But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
  Billy: Well, it don't make 'em runnin' scared.
  George Hanson: No, it makes 'em dangerous...

Not sure how reading books in Thailand is creative. Being counter culture doesn't make you creative.

People react negatively to the "financial independence/lifestyle design" because they suspect you are telling them they are stupid for wanting to build a life the traditional way by working hard, starting a family and saving money for the future.

> Being counter culture doesn't make you creative.

So much this. Think of someone you see at the coffee shop with a sketch pad - tattooed, big ear plugs, tight jeans and a weird hat. Is this person creative? Without seeing some work output there's no way to know. Lots of people mistake appearance for an indicator for creativity.

The creativity came before the reading. Coming up with a plan to allow taking 6 months off and living in another country. The 6 months of reading fuels the next set of creative ideas.

I think the point is that there is nothing "creative" about deciding to go bum around SE Asia for a few months. Actually doing so will certainly take some planning, and maybe relaxing and reading might give you ideas for stuff to do later, but there is nothing creative in the act or in the planning and there is nothing to suggest that it will result will be anything creative either. I know scads of young 20-somethings who did exactly this and then came back home to do pretty much nothing.

Sounds more to me like the "creative idea" was "convince someone to pay me to take 6 months off to go read books in Thailand."

Seriously. Why should creativity go unquestioned?

I can't understand this line of reasoning. Creativity is the result of a process, and that process is ignoring (or at least comparatively devaluing) the horrific and sneering grasp of the status quo.

To separate the result of the creative process from the process is an abstraction that ends up excluding the actionable content from the concept. To argue over which acts are and aren't creative will do nothing to serve you in your life, so why do it except to try to bring others down?

Then explain the process. Tell me what you hope to create, why you want to create it, and why you think your chosen method will work.

As it stands, all I see is a six-month vacation in Thailand. I don't see the grand vision you say you have. Make me see it, and then we'll talk. And if you cannot help me see it, then why should I support you? Why should you go unquestioned?

Creativity isn't the creation of a product. It does not imply selflessness. It isn't de facto laudable, and "creative" need not even be a compliment. That's not the argument.

Instead - just look at what you need to justify in order to "support" me (what does this MEAN?)! Why, beyond mere curiosity, do you feel more need to "question" somebody for doing what they want when it is outside of the status quo? Why does this become an issue of approval?

EDIT: To clear up any miscommunication - I am talking about friends/acquaintances getting uncomfortable/upset about my spending my time, money, and life the way I want to simply because it does not conform to the status quo. I am not talking about soliciting anybody (that would be weird).

EDIT 2: Although the fact that multiple commenters assumed that someone else would have to be bankrolling me to do this shows how deep the "always have a job and spend what you earn" conditioning/lifestyle goes.

I didn't say that creativity was the creation of a product, per se. But by definition, it does create something: a product, perhaps, but just as likely a work of art, literature, philosophy, or other abstracts. Or maybe even just a plan of further action. The point of creativity is to create.

Why do I question you? Because all you've told me is that you want to spend six months reading books in Thailand. You won't tell me what you're reading, or why Thailand, or why it needs to be done full-time. Do you even know what you're going to be reading? I suspect not; I suspect this is pure leisure, and the plan to read books will only last until the first distraction comes along. But even if it doesn't, I'm not seeing what difference it would make. And all of this would be well enough to leave alone, but you're (hypothetically) asking me to either bankroll it, or to at least treat it as kind of serious personal project, without even telling me why I should do either one.

Why should I question you? Why shouldn't I? There is creativity, and there is BS, and this is sounding more and more like the latter. Why shouldn't you be called out on that? All I've asked is why, yet the response has been defensive if not outright hostile. What are you defending?

I think I know. This isn't Michelangelo or Picasso or Tolkien or Henson or even Yankovic. This is, at its absolute best, Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m, acting out at random in blind rebellion, not against anything in particular, but merely for rebellion's sake, because that's what sounds like fun. And for that, you can leave me off your list of donors.

Something got lost in translation, no_wave originally said, "stop working for six months". It wasn't a request for paid time off.

And looking at the rest of your (Millennium) comments, it looks like you took it personally and unironically got angry.

The key part is "they suspect". You don't have to tell them anything about their life. You don't even have to KNOW about their life. But they will still take your alternate lifestyle as a personal offense.

(as an aside, since when has "saving money for the future" been the habit in America?)

> because they suspect you are telling them they are stupid for wanting to build a life the traditional way by working hard, starting a family and saving money for the future.

Which is a problem, people take everything as a personal assault.

This has nothing to do with the creativity or lack of creativity in the action.

I guess I'm one of those Americans. My direct challenge to you would be... What do you do when the travel is over? Where did all the money for your trip come from? Where are your savings?

Maybe these aren't important questions to the world traveler. Maybe experiencing the world is much more important than career and financial agility and job security. That's fine.

But for me, that's a really sharp value change, and it makes me uncomfortable. I think that's what people are really feeling.

It's kind of like entrepreneurship. Everyone says it's a good idea. But when you get right down to it, most businesses are failures. Are you willing to take that risk on for the possibility of creative freedom?

>> What do you do when the travel is over?

Find another job. There's no real shortage if you're in tech.

>> Where did all the money for your trip come from?

Money put aside in my previous few years of work.

>> Where are your savings?

In the bank, looking a little smaller than they were before my six months off.

>> Maybe these aren't important questions to the world traveler. Maybe experiencing the world is much more important than career and financial agility and job security. That's fine.

Pretty much, for me.

I like what I do, and I do it well, but I'm not really committed to any one employer, not in the long term, I'm committed to getting the most out of my life. For me that seems to mean hitting the road in a foreign country (or several) for a few weeks or months at a time every few years.

>> It's kind of like entrepreneurship. Everyone says it's a good idea. But when you get right down to it, most businesses are failures. Are you willing to take that risk on for the possibility of creative freedom?

I'm a freelancer/contractor at the moment rather than an entrepreneur, but the answer so far as I can tell is - why the hell not? You can always get a proper job afterwards if it doesn't work out.

>> You can always get a proper job afterwards if it doesn't work out.

This is what I keep saying!

My mother (and my ex, too) would get very upset when, after college, I suggested building a business freelancing and eventually building my own products -- it's too risky, they said. But I'm a young person with no dependents or anyone else I'm responsible for, I have very few expenses, I have time to build something substantial that can be more successful than a job. Where's the risk? Worst case scenario, I get another job. Best case scenario -- freedom from concerns about money, location, and time.

Stay on this career path forever? I can't ever have those last three things. But hey, it's the easy way out, right? It's what everybody else does.

Mid-case scenario - you get valuable business experience and when you do get that other job you leap up the ranks quicker than if you just went and did something conventional.

Obviously you have to weigh up, for you, the lifestyle you want to lead and the stability you need, but it's not like it's a dumb thing to take a chance, especially when you have no dependents.

I'm pretty much doing that. Reading books in Thailand, enjoying life, learning another language. Tip: If in Bangkok, then get your books at Dasa Book Cafe (google it).

Really if you do not party all the time and decide to live in the non tourist areas then besides having a great experience you don't burn a lot of money either.

I'd say that living in a non western culture for a while will actually help you in your career later on as it puts things in perspective.

Hipster alert: The definition of a hipster is someone who spends a lot of enregy trying to figure out what everybody else is thinking, just so s/he can think the opposite.

Why do you care -- or ever know -- if most Americans will despise you?

"How can you know if someone is a counter-cultural free-thinking rebel who doesn't care what anybody think? They'll tell everybody."

Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the risk, time and effort involved in making them work that has value.

That is because ideas come from artists who are mostly really really bad at capitalism.