A Little Encouragement For You

It's the new year. 2021. After the shit storm that was 2020, I know that we're all holding out to draw a line underneath the chapter that's just finished and are ready to write the scene of our creative journey.

But I know - like me - that you may be feeling cautious, unsure, hesitant, nervous or even afraid of what 2021 is going to bring. We started out last year full of hope and positivity, only to be stopped at every turn by a pandemic we couldn't predict or control.

Let's put that aside for now. Let's not get bogged back in. Let's take the newness of 2021 and bask in it and recharge our creative selves.

With that in mind, I want to encourage you.

Be great.

Be awesome.

Be unbelievable.

You are absolutely capable of being and doing so.

Everything that you need is already at your disposal, and you have the talent and creativity to make it all become real.  It might be a thought in your head at the moment, but there is nothing stopping you from making it visceral and tangible. This quote from Johann Wolfgang van Goethe tells you so:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

You can.

The trick is not to get bogged down in the negative stuff that can run through your head: especially coming out of such a challenging year. Yes, it might take a bit of a mental nudge to do so. But, just take a look at what you can create when you believe in yourself! Look at your past successes - creative or other. They are evidence of your mental, physical and emotional strength and power. They are proof that you are capable of amazing ingenuity, originality and inventiveness.

And here's the other thing: other people believe in you too.  

They can see the beauty that you conjure, and they are willing you to go further, higher, and better than before. They are championing you. Like a squad of cheerleaders, they are chanting your name and rooting for you. They want you to reach that goal, and to see you - to coin a phrase - get your name in lights.

When things go wrong - or against the plan - remember what Walt Disney said:

Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Don't stay looking backward.  Keep moving forward.  What you do is worth it.  It IS worth it.  

Believe that.  

Ingest it.  

Take it in.

 You can do the impossible: you can take something that's in your mind and make it into reality. You have ideas that no one else has! 

Again, Disney:

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

YOU are someone who can do the impossible.  And you can often see what other people can't see.  Billy Joel once said:

Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.

Heh.  See?

What you need is encouragement.  So, here it is. I'm giving it to you.  Be encouraged.  And if not by me, then by the people from the quotes I've used - people who were told "can't" and changed it into "can".

I'm a huge fan of Dr Seuss, and one of my favourite books is "Oh! The Places You'll Go!" There's a myriad of quotes that I could pull from that book, and I highly recommend getting a copy of it. No matter who you are, this book is a beautifully written guide for life. But here's the last page of the book for you:

So...

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!

You can.  And you will.

You can.

Because you are someone who creates that which other people need. Remember:

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, “I’m possible!”

–Audrey Hepburn

So now, go.  

Be great.

Be awesome.

Be unbelievable.

Until next time,

Drew.