I can hear the “hurry up” theme music from Super Mario Brothers playing in my head as the year winds inexorably to a close. However, I’ve got plenty to say before that happens (as always).
In that spirit of contemplation, I thought I’d do a round-up style post of everything I learned this year.
This year, I found myself questioning if I still know anything at all about how to help creative people, which was ostensibly the reason I started this writing journey. The path I took to the career I’ve been privileged to have seems to have closed. It’s made way for other things that I’m still not quite sure how to feel about. So I think that I must ride the wave and let this become whatever shape it settles into. If I’m not a teacher, maybe that means I’ll be a friend. Either way, I’m here. I’ll be me. You’ll be you. We will keep going on and it will be enough. I don’t know how yet, but I trust us.
Make the time and the space to spend time with the people you love. This year was so busy that my partner and I only really went on two proper “dates” (like, alone with each other, no kids). We finally went on another one yesterday. It started out bad…we left the house late, got to our favorite karaoke place, realized it was closed - and then spent one-and-a-half of our precious 6 babysitter’d hours trying to figure out how to pivot our plans. It was so frustrating and I was so angry with myself for spending the money to do it at all. But eventually the frustration gave way to the euphoria of being able to spend time with my chosen person just by ourselves. By the end of the night I felt a profound sense of “it’s going to be all right” -ness. We are not the same but we are on the same journey, and I am loved and I am not alone, however much I might feel lonely and unlovable sometimes.
I’m proud of myself for what I’ve done this year. I’m proud of me for pushing myself to do not one, but THREE in-person markets to sell the things I made. I learned so much that I never, ever would have known had I not had the opportunity to learn directly from my potential customers. And more than that, I met some truly wonderful artists and craftspeople and cooks - other people who share my particular form of mental illness (the “I will succeed because I am insane” types). I thought of all my creative teams and felt a bubbly pang of recognition that any of these people could easily have been on one of those teams, could easily have been one of the people who trusted me with their livelihood as those others have done. And I bought as many of their wares as I could. I felt a profound sense of care and connection. I’m also proud of myself for having continued to write this year. I’m proud of myself for being brave enough to say the things I was afraid to say but thought needed to be said.
If a product’s value about tricking others into thinking there’s some kind of sentience or humanity somewhere that there actually isn’t, or from stealing their IP, identity or data - that’s a giant red flag to me. I don’t think it’s impossible to use AI ethically (and I also implement it myself for various purposes, to be clear). But I do think the most of the major players are marketing and shaping their product for and to people who want to more effectively scam other people…which is why I can’t be silent.
We all need other people to survive. We need clean water to drink. Infrastructure. Safe places for kids to play. Plumbing. Education. Electricity. Those things don’t happen without collaborative efforts by human beings. Why are so many political leaders and companies trying to sell us a vision of the future that doesn’t include interacting and working with other human beings?
We need creativity and meaning. We need it like we need oxygen - everything we touch, eat, hear, smell - ALL of it is creative in some way - and every human being is creative whether they believe so or not. But the value comes from human beings. If you lose the humanity, you lose the value.
There are already gifts coming to you in this moment. Opportunities from the universe. Things that might even look ugly or off-putting or painful or embarrassing, but that you can spin into gold. They are everywhere around you - and you don’t need to buy a kit or a cream or set of classes to use them. What gifts do you see right now?
Thanks for being here. I wish you, and us, a renewed sense of purpose and hope in the coming year.
XOXO,
Cathy