Dear Josh,
Today is as good of a day as any to step outside of yourself and take control of your life, so why not write something you’ve prolonged doing for a while and just do it now?
In the current state of things you believe you have one life to live and I agree. And being that you only have one life to live, why not do the many things you’ve always wanted to do instead of waiting for another opportunity that might never come.
This year you’ve done a good job of reflecting on the days and the weeks and recognizing what have been positives and what can be improved upon. Yet,—and I don’t think you’d disagree—it hasn’t necessarily “yielded” anything. That’s OK. Rome wasn’t built in a day, yada, yada, yada.
Now it’s time to put that reflection into action. You realize now that so many of the barriers and obstacles you’ve confronted have been self imposed! That’s right—a lot of the emotional ups and downs you experience, the can dos and can’t dos, really start and finish with you. It’s not “your” fault and it’s not “theirs”. It’s not a battle of “me” and your opponent is not “them”.
Let me take a deep breath and rein us back in because I sense a tangent coming on.
What gives you life? What inspires you? Where do you fit in? What do you love? What is stopping you from deep-diving into the above questions. I don’t pretend to know that the answer to this is the key to all of those unlocked doors, but I do think it could provide some assistance into helping get them open.
Let’s take some time to answer. You love your family. You love your friends. You love art. You love culture. You love sports. You love community. You love to create. You know when you’re happy. You know when you aren’t. You know when you feel free and you know when you feel trapped. You believe that you at your happiest is an unchained lifestyle in which you can get out your ideas, collaborate with those you love and share and involve those ideas with others. This is your utopia, your dreamscape. And you know what the best part of it is? This is so within reach! Dude, it’s not like you want to own a city. It’s not like you want to destroy the world. It’s not even like you want to own a corporation. The only thing you want to be a CEO of is yourself. You don’t have to feel like a servant or a worker bee within your own mind. Fuck that—it’s time to be your own boss.
Listen, everyone has to put in that busy work. We all gotta make sacrifices and make money as means to an end—to survive. We need to pay that rent and buy those groceries and do that laundry and we need to enjoy as much as we can enjoy. But, if we’re truly going to be our own boss we need to own up to the habits and actions that aren’t serving us and are slowing us down. I truly believe that there is a fine line between using your phone and our phones using us. it’s not this black and white, of course, but not having enough time in the day to do what you want is simply not a valid excuse when some of the time that you do have is spent foundering into your phone. All phones aside—priorities can be readjusted. Those days that you are making good use of time, but you look back at the day and you’re like, “Damn, all I did was chip away doing busy work?” There is a solution to this, too. I think you’ve trained your mind to believe that the completion of these little things makes you feel accomplished, but I think you know deep down that that’s a mirage. Bigger fish to fry. Quality over quantity. It’s a crafty trap by those little mini tasks to divert you from the greater tasks at hand. Writing that script. Building that brand. Starting that blog. As opposed to—completing errands. Finishing tasks.
If you could do three things that you’ve always wanted that you haven’t done yet (in no particular order), what would they be?
1. Speak Babel (the languages of the world)
2. Write a script of every play/movie idea you’ve ever had
3. Develop and share your projects with the world
The awesome thing about the above list is that they are attainable in their own right and you know what I mean. No need to explain.
Now, while this might be an abrupt ending, let’s put this in writing.
My vision/purpose statement for the rest of 2019 (and hopefully forever and ever) is this:
Every day I promise to work as hard as I can to do what I love. I promise to love others and to love myself. I promise to try as hard as I can to fight the self-imposed barriers and to help others do the same. I promise to not hide behind excuses and to be honest with myself about what isn’t working and what I can do better. I promise.
Josh, I am here for you now. I know I can be an asshole sometimes, but I’m trying to help us be better and do better.
I love you.
Let’s do this.
Sincerely you,
ME