i.am.sanders

So it is the close of another year and I have sorely neglected this blog.  Life has had a way of creating its own traffic and pulling me in directions, so many MANY directions, that I have sometimes found myself in places I never thought I'd be.  Several times I have attempted to creatively vent here, and each time it seems my mind has wandered.  These days I am engaged in a great deal of academic reading and writing and my creativity has simply had less of a license by which to present itself.

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”  ~Kurt Vonnegut

I am concluding my year ~ and beginning the next ~ by enjoying a bit of classic literature.  I have stacks of research awaiting my perusal but I am insisting that it wait, at least for a bit.  Then, despite my aversion to New Year's resolutions, I'll move forward with what I believe to be a meaningful dissertation.  I hope it will prove bold and contributory.  My doctoral advisor is excited by the prospects and has asked, "How courageous do you want to be?"   

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”  ~ Coco Chanel

 
It is the last day of the year and I have amused myself by revisiting some of my long ago posts.  Sometimes the words we 'say' come from a place of yesterday, and sometimes they come from a place we no longer recognize...  I recently discovered some comments from Mr. Neil Gaiman.  With all due respect, I know very little about him other than he produces graphic novels.  Still, I found this quote noteworthy and applicable to today's reflections.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

Here's to 2013, to starting over, to making new mistakes...  

Be well.  ~S.