Shedding old identities
Oh, hi friends!
Best-laid plans and all that. August is always weird! But this one was also relaxing, too. Colin and I stared at books and the beach on Fire Island for a few weeks and visited dear friends and their too-cute dogs in Philadelphia. So many things we weren’t able to do last summer. But there’s so much still left to do. Do you feel that, too?
This in-between, of what you have or don’t have. What you know and don’t know. What you can and can’t do. What you want and don’t know you want yet. This is rich terrain!
I left my editing job last month. I did this partly because I had a lot to do (some things already happened, some in the works, some on hold). And also partly because “editor” has not felt like a truthful part of my identity for a long time.
Recently I was on a panel hosted by my friend Aransas on the topic of shedding old identities. It’s hard, my friends. It’s the same reason you keep going back to familiar neighborhood restaurants. They are reliable. Steady.
Old identities are reliable and steady. It feels good to be good at something. And when you start something new? You’re usually not that good. My ability as a lyricist is maybe 20% as good as my ability as an editor. Of course, I have 10 more years of experience as an editor, but that’s not something you tend to remember when you’re staring at a line and wondering how you could write something so terrible!
So why all this now?
I figure that on the first of the month, at the start of a new season, you might be branching out from an old identity, too. And I wanted to let you know that maybe all the staring into space and worrying and planning were necessary for you to reach this next level, too.
And now you’re here. Or getting there. Or on your way. Or will be soon.
That is a very good and brave place to be.
Possibility.
From a quiet stretch of Fire Island. Clear skies, hot sand, not a car or person in sight!
“Okay, I’ll be totally real. My neighbor here is 92. His name is Geoff. And he’s the reason I moved to the beach, because I was talking to him one day on the deck—I would have lunch with him once a week on the deck. I said, ‘What’s the deal, man? You’re the happiest guy I’ve ever seen in my life. Why are you so fucking happy?’ And he’s like, ‘I don’t look around at what anybody else is doing. I just live my life, and I don’t look at what other people are doing.’”
A surprising gem I’m holding close these days, from this GQ profile of surfer guy Jonah Hill.
Something New for Your Netflix Queue
Proud sister alert! Remember actor bro Eric? Well, he’s in a new Netflix show!! You might have seen Hit & Run pop up on the main Netflix dashboard — it quickly hit the most-watched lists worldwide after being released a few weeks ago.
Starring Lior Raz (of Fauda fame) as a man intent on discovering who killed his wife in a hit and run accident, the show rockets between New York City and Tel Aviv — and Eric plays Michael Weaver, the righthand man to a CIA guy played by Gregg Henry (Logan Huntzberger’s dad, for all those Gilmore Girls fans). Keep your eyes peeled for Eric in episodes three, six, and eight. :)
If you like thrillers, action, intrigue (and/or supporting the Cutruzzula clan) then please go forth and enjoy!
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You can also support my work by checking out my motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara