Success as Trap?

  There is a danger that too much "doing" can lead to a kind of enervating process of being swallowed up into a routine or  schedule. Even the most creative endeavors in life can lead to an unreflective reproduction or rehashing of routines, as when an artist ends up falling into a style or genre that they've shaped and created for many years. Many people, I would imagine, may become jaded through overwork, being sucked into the karma of their own success. Although they might continue in the same way, their success actually becomes a trap for them.

    I find that people are, in retrospect, often at their most creative when they are either in a transition period (sometimes known as a "liminal space") or are somehow unlatched from a reputation they might have previously cultivated yet became a social addiction for them. I think that success can have a way of consuming a person or fixating them into an identity that "works" but does not allow for any further exploration. There is also a tendency to equate success with completion--and one becomes a victim of it because they no longer are able to see anything outside of it. As people get older, they have difficulties imagining how to repeat their previous "successes" or peaks, and might even begin to feel that the remainder of their life is either meant to preserve their previous glory or to just sustain the status quo.

     I wonder if there are certain points where the replication of a past success, or the resurrection of a successful identity, might end up becoming a millstone around one's neck. Particularly for musicians who are reviving a career, this can actually become a matter of trying to replicate an old style. Could this sometimes be an impediment that blocks further exploration or growth? This, I think, is where it might be important to step back a bit and cultivate a beginner's mind.