I have always been a huge fan of Michael Keaton. Beetlejuice, Batman, Birdman. All the b movies (get it?!?). When I was younger he was my favorite actor. Now that he's made a comeback into movies I'm pretty excited. His background is pretty interesting. His real name is Michael Douglas and he's from Pittsburgh. He changed his name to Keaton because Diane Keaton was really popular at the time and he didn't want to get confused with Michael Douglas, house husband of Catherine Zeta Jones. His first job in show business was as a puppeteer on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. That is awesome for a couple of reasons. First of all it's awesome to have worked with Mr Rogers. The man taught me how to be polite. That's #amazingness. Secondly I think it's a great sign of dedication to ones craft. Keaton wanted to be in show business so much that he took a backstage job to learn. He started at square one and worked his way up.
These days it feels like a lot of people don't have the patience or desire to work for what they really want. People seem to confuse persistence with patience. Every so often I'll listen to folks who are trying for a role of some kind. And without fail they talk about passion. I'm passionate about this grilled cheese recipe and nobody can tell me it's not the best!!!! I have the drive to get there and nothing will stand in my way not even two Godzillas. With laser beam eyes!!!!
But the fact is saying you have passion isn't enough. It takes action. And drive. Drive doesn't mean shit unless you're driving. Drive in and of itself is like being hungry and not eating. You just feel empty. But when you get off your ass and see that there's shit to do and go out and do it then you know what? You've got my attention. I'll take ten failed attempts over one never tried any day. I have friends who want to write screenplays but they don't do it. They want to draw a mural on some wall so hipsters can look at it and act like they don't care because caring is so lame. The emptiest I've felt in my life is when I think about the risks and endeavors I let fall by the wayside. I try to not go there often, to not pass through the fields of fallen dreams and missed opportunities but alas I am drawn like a moth to the flame. It is at that point I turn around and toot at the flame because of course you know farts are always funny. Taking chances makes you feel alive. I'm not talking about being reckless or irresponsible. I'm talking about trying to draw. Singing at karaoke night instead of just trying to fade into the background. Often times we talk about doing something and then never get around to it. Why does that happen? Because we don't want to feel rejection. Or failure. Or stupid. People who are secure in themselves can shake shake it off shake it off. But a lot of us have a hard time with that. We can be insecure about our shortcomings. (Or our long-goings). And that's ok. Just don't let it rule you. Reach out to your feelings. Take a deep breath. WOOOSAH. And bam it's gone.
For the longest time I wanted to paint. I took 30 years to try it. I didn't do it until one day in June. I bought a canvas some brushes and paints and just did it. Once my piece was done I texted a picture to who else but my mom. She loved it. But she loved it more than just the way a mom does. She actually seemed impressed by the fact that I did it. I took a chance and created a picture. Now painting is something I can honestly say I love to do. It's something I'm passionate about and it's something I'm very proud of, like this blog dear readers. I doubled down and started an Instagram page for me to post my piece. And people liked it! My art was out there baby and I was living it up, showing it off. And no I can't stop painting. I have two hundred pieces. I've even sold some of them to folks who aren't even related to me! It makes me proud to know I tried it. I worked at it. Now it's paying off not in money per se but in self satisfaction. I took a chance a succeeded. I lived out loud and helped Stella get her groove back while waiting to exhale. I was Like Mike (Keaton). Whenever someone tries something new I try to be supportive. I try to be as open minded and constructive as possible. You never want to stifle a dream as long as it's not something like trying to build a device that causes everyone around to wet their pants on command. That just would not be cool.
Next time I'm going to take the flip side of this. I don't want it to seem like everything is always honky dory. But I leave you with this idea: what is something you always wanted to do? Why not go out and try to do it? If you succeed great. If you don't then you learned something didn't you? So you still succeeded. But more on that later....for now just be like Mike.
.
Comments
Post a Comment