I was talking to someone the other day — a free call with a 30-something performer who felt deeply dispirited and wanted to talk.
Like many of us, she’s struggling to find her way. Life is really tough for a lot of people right now.
She lives in a country that’s struggling more than most.
She said she felt she only really had two options.
One was to fit in with the system — accepting its corruption, doing things that appalled her, living — in every way — at odds with who she wants to be.
The other option was to be a failure. To give up on her dreams. To live a life of drudgery and lack of fulfilment.
What didn’t feel possible was for her to live as an artist, creating and sharing with integrity.
That’s so deeply sad.
I recognise it, but it’s sad.
Two choices: do what you have to do to conform and be successful, or reject conformity and be a failure.
Is this really all there is?
No.
No.
I reject that.
Let’s imagine a different way — a third way.
What if we refuse to give up on passion, on our unique genius, on finding a path outside established structures?
What if we refuse to give up?
What does that mean?
It means doing what you must to earn money. Work with personal integrity, but don’t feel guilty about using the system, because, after all, the system is using you.
Do what you must to earn money, but invest your energy and passion elsewhere.
It might be in a personal project.
It might be in relationships.
It might be in a volunteering organisation.
It might be in politics or community development.
It might be in writing or drawing pictures,
I don’t know.
I do know this though: we have choices. The story we’re told, that ’There Is No Alternative’, is a damn lie. It serves those with power, but not the rest of us, trying, as we are, to live this wonderous and awe-inspiring life we’ve been blessed with.
Where are you going to invest your passion? How are you going to make a magnificent life, when you realise the system you’ve been raised to be part of no longer serves you?
Our communities and our societies are moved forward by mavericks and outsiders.
Conformists administer.
Artists and dreamers transform.
Both are necessary.
You choose which to be.
Most of us are a bit of both.
In what unique ways are you an outsider, maverick, dreamer, rebel and artist?
Embracing your artist doesn’t mean rejecting everything. It doesn’t mean you have to smash things.
It means deciding how much of your passion, attention and creativity to invest outside of what you’ve been told you’re allowed to do.
Never believe there’s no alternative. Life is a creative act.
If you want to talk about coaching or mentorship, as you embrace your next steps as Creator, Artist and 3D human, please drop me a message. We’ll chat.