reminder to self #10: just continue


reminder to self #10

December '24

What if being successful simply meant: to continue?

click here to listen to an audiofile of reminder to self #10

I met a man who talked about how people say business and love don't go together, it's the opposite! he said, a business without love is nothing! From that moment I knew I liked him, who doesn't love a man who loves love?

The other night I saw him again and we greeted each other and he asked how I was doing. Of course I said: good! as one does. But then, as my brain quickly considered leaving it at that, I felt compelled to open up. I explained how I was feeling down and trying to figure out post-graduate life as an artist. He listened and offered his advice: he used to have many art academy friends who now, thirty years later, have taken a completely different path. They don't express their creativity anymore. So don't let yourself get rushed, just keep doing your thing and most importantly, make sure you're still doing your thing in thirty years.

And I mulled over that thought on my walk home. What if nothing mattered except for the fact that I am still making things and expressing that creativity in thirty years? That feels like an achievable goal, a simple one, because all I have to do is continue.

I think about all the people who loved to play, imagine and create when they were young, but have... stopped. And I think about all the people in my life who have continued: to write, to draw, to paint, to make music. Not necessarily as a career, but as a way of living life. And now - I decide that will be my succes.

Hereby I solemnly swear that in the year 2055 I will still be doing my thing, my creative thing, whatever that thing may be, I will continue to make things.

❊ recommendation: CHARLOT's new album Lost Like Alice, I especially like interlude.

artist
Lost Like Alice • CHARLOT
White Swan [intro] • CHARLOT
PREVIEW
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bye for now

Zena-Rae

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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reminder to self

the title alludes to something i wrote: “het leven is constant vergeten en herinneren wat er nou echt belangrijk is” (life is constantly forgetting and remembering again, what is truly important)

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