forty.three

LA.7

over the past couple of years i've really begun to own that i'm a writer. i've even got into the habit of filling out forms and citing 'writer' as my occupation. there is little else that i have as much passion for, and little else that excites me as much as expressing myself through words.

i've been surrounded by creative people for years: photographers, producers, dancers, singers, musicians...you name it, i know them. and almost everyone i know, at some point, has had a lapse in confidence/energy/commitment. it seems to be the way it goes for creative spirits, one minute we're up and the next we're down, feeling uninspired and a little worthless. for what is a writer if they can't write, or a producer if they can't make music?

while i was in LA i had an epiphany. just because your label [dancer, singer, artist] is creative, doesn't mean it conclusively describes who you are or why you do what you do any more than 'plumber' or 'checkout assistant' would. i may be a writer, but am i just a writer? do i write because that's what a writer does? or is my innermost desire to share myself and connect with the world, and writing is the way that i do this best? are you really a producer, or is your spiritual hunger fed by touching hearts, and making beats is the way you do this best? are you really a photographer, or do you have a burning need to challenge the way people see things, and taking pictures is the way that you do this best?

when you find out what it is that compels you to do what you do, you can unleash that force into every area of your life. once you discover that being a singer or a choreographer is secondary to being a lover or a healer then it won't hit so hard when the songs or steps don't come. it's at those moments that you redirect that force that never fades into something and everything else, until the channel you tune into best regains its signal.

really: if you didn't paint, if you didn't make beats, if you weren't a poet, how would you be known? who are you? what will you leave behind on this blue earth for generations to come?

put that on everything.

looking over the valley