Are you sleeping on opportunities?
Oh, hi friends!
It’s December. 2018.
December of 2018.
How did we get here?
Nah, never mind. Let’s not look backwards.
Where are we going?
That’s a more interesting question.
As we head into the final days of the year, this is my question:
How many opportunities are you sleeping on right now?
Opportunities can be categorized in a few ways:
People who have offered to help you (by reading your work, working with you, encouraging you, so on.)
Applications you can send in (to grad school, for fellowships, for new jobs)
Connections to be made (the business cards you dutifully exchanged but never followed up on, the ‘networking’ event that sounds a little too extroverted for your “I” self but if you meet one person then it’s worth it, yes?)
I can think of at least five major opportunities I’m sitting/sleeping on right now.
Because I’m “busy.”
Because I can’t decide what to do next.
Because my work isn’t finished.
Because I don’t have something to share yet.
But the biggest reason is because it’s more comfortable to do nothing.
I don’t know, though.
It’s December. Of 2018. I think I’d like to end the year seizing—not sleeping—on these opportunities. Are you with me?
You can be koala on the weekend. But today is Monday. Koala always wakes up on Monday.
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
"Every artist and writer I know claims to work in their sleep. I do all the time. Jasper Johns famously said, ‘One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it.’ How many times have you been given a whole career in your dreams and not heeded it? It doesn’t matter how scared you are; everyone is scared. Work. Work is the only thing that takes the curse of fear away.”
Even though I don't make fine art, there’s much to glean from New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz’s “How to Be an Artist.”
If you haven’t seen The Lion King trailer, well, whatcha waiting for? When Disney announced they were making a “live-action version” of the beloved film, everyone went…a-whaa? And yet…this…this looks good. Donald Glover is the voice of Simba, btw. And don’t worry, James Earl Jones returns as Mufasa.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara