| Do you have a book or a show or a standup set or a screenplay you’ve always wanted to write? And you’re not writing it? Well, I suggest you give it up. |
| You read me right. Just go ahead and quit it. Why? Because having it hang over your shoulder isn’t doing you any good. It’s just weighing you down. Go ahead and acknowledge that it’s just not that important to you. Your job, your mortgage, your kids, your spouse, your fitness, or your spiritual practice (maybe not in that order) are more important. And let that be ok. Because it really is ok. You don’t have time for everything. In fact, think about the last time you worked on that project. Or even considered working on it. Was it a long time ago? Well imagine how much lighter you could feel if you just let it go. You wouldn’t keep a bunch of chocolate cakes in your fridge for years, thinking, “one day I’m gonna eat that” (though my dad kept the cake from my Bat Mitzvah in the freezer for a decade. Why?) And unless you’re a vampire, you wouldn’t keep a lover in the basement thinking, (yes) “one day I’m gonna eat that”. I could go on… But you get the idea. Things that were once very alive get stale if you keep them on the shelf too long. And they muck up the Feng Shui of your whole life. Maybe your whole life could actually improve if you put that sht down? Clear out the cobwebs! Or maybe you’re a whole different person than you were when you first dreamed it up, first desired it, first put it in play? Maybe now you’re more excited by the trapeze than the pen. Go climb that ladder and swing from those crazy ropes then!And of course this is the moment of truth. Does a voice shout, “But! But no! I can’t give it up!”? Well, I don’t believe you. I think you’re gonna say you love it, you need it, but basically put it back on the shelf to be eaten later. And that’s either because: a) you don’t really want to do it, really b) it’s easier to half-a33 life and act out of habit or c) you really, truly want to do it, but you don’t know how. Not doing it has become so familiar, that you literally can’t fathom how. This is where Alicia Yoda comes in. If the answer is C. I can tell you from years of experience that willpower isn’t the answer. Community is the answer. The right community. A fierce community of folks valiantly fighting The War of Art. Shoulder to shoulder, deep in the trenches, battling against a common “enemy”. With the scars to prove it. No, it’s not always fun. But this is a war you can win, and you win it because you stop trying to fight it alone. (Join my writing workshop!) |
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