Get It In Gear, Already!

You call yourself an artist, but you don’t actually create anything.  So, what are you waiting for?  Does your nine-to-five job make you feel like less of an artist?  Do you feel like you need permission to do what you want to with your life?

Fine, you have my permission to do what you want to with your life.
Does that make you feel any different?  Probably not, and with good reason.  Before now, I never had any control over your life, so how does me giving you permission to do something change your life?  It doesn’t.  It changes nothing.  Maybe there is someone, or something in your life that is holding you back from realizing your potential.  Whatever.  I really don’t care what your reasons are.  If you are an artist, you have a natural drive to express yourself in whatever form you decide to.  For you to allow anything to hold you back from expressing yourself is to deny yourself the very purpose of your existence.

What Are You Waiting For?

Don’t ask for permission to do what you want with your life, just do it.
You’re an artist, and nobody can take that away from you.  There are only two reasons why anyone would want to hold you back anyway.  Either they are jealous of your talents, or they are afraid of your talents.  How selfish is that?  It’s your life, and your talents… not theirs.  They can’t tell you not to use them.  You have possession of your life and no one else, so don’t let anyone else live your life for you.

Movies

So you’ve been watching movies for your entire life, and your American dream is to see your name in the credits on the big screen?  Don’t listen to your “friends” and “family” who tell you that you’re living in a fantasy land.  If that’s what you want, then make it happen.  You don’t need permission from anyone to make a movie.  Go do it!

Writing

Perhaps your passion is reading and writing.  You daydream of one day writing the great American novel and going on a book signing tour.  Your hope is that one day, your “job” will be upstairs at the keyboard with a warm cup of coffee.  Don’t listen to them when they tell you that the time you’re spending hammering out chapters is a waste of time.  You don’t need permission from anyone to write a book.  If that’s what you want to do, there’s nothing stopping you.  Hell, even without a computer or typewriter, there’s nothing stopping you from grabbing a notebook, so what’s stopping you?

Music

Maybe the love of your life is music.  Is your escape from the stressors of your life in the form of headphones?  If you won the lottery, would you deck out your car with a phat sound system?  Do you write verses in your spare time, and dream of one day seeing a shiny new shrink-wrapped CD with your name and picture on it in the music store?  In this day and age, the only people who are truly unable to cut an album are the ones who don’t want to.  Go out and make it happen!  You don’t need permission from anyone to make an album.  Get on the internet, and research how to do it.  I guarantee you that if you saved up for a little while, you could make your dream come true.

All Of The Above???

Or maybe you are among the lucky, uninhibited class of creatures who wants to do it all.  If you are, I salute you.  Go crazy and do it all.  Try everything.  You don’t need permission from ANYONE to create ANYTHING.  If you are a writer and you want to cut an album, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not allowed to.  Go out there and show those naysayers the best damn album you can make.  If you are a film maker, and you want to write a book, then do it!  If you are in a band, and you want to star in a movie, then make it happen.  Don’t let the haters stop you!

Get The Picture?

Whatever you decide to focus on, just make sure that you give it a fair amount of focus.  Practice your new skill, and read up on it.  That way you can school it to the best of your ability.