Those people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do – Steve Jobs
In looking back… I sometimes wonder if I could have been crazier… braver… or more adventurous! Or that perhaps I should have opened a few more of those doors of opportunity that… in looking back… remain unopened.
Opportunity knocked and I didn’t always answer.
[I get hellishly introspective around birthday time] (((chuckles)))
But then I think about all the things I HAVE done “with my heart on fire” and I realise that those unopened doors may not have made a whole lot of difference.
Life has brought me to here. And here is WHO I am.
It is what it is.
Maybe I might have been crazier. The unopened doors do kind of suggest it [grin] But maybe they weren’t meant to be opened up either? Not then anyway…
Funny how life keeps on recycling our choices… bringing them back… packaged in a different way. What we thought we missed we didn’t miss at all. Life was just waiting for us to be ready!
So as another birthday passes… I look forward to having the guts to be crazy “enough”. Because being crazy enough [in a good way] is the stuff everyone needs to get things done.
Who knows…if we can be crazy enough to think that we might change the world… even in some very small way… then maybe we will.
And if not?
Well heck… no skin off.
The world still needs YOU [and me] to do our crazy thing!
You go first though okay? I’ll get the door (((chuckles)))
[PS I sat on this video clip for a a couple of months because I didn't think it was good enough to put up. It's just a fun sketch I did for my drawing folio and I was testing my new camera and software [it wasn't meant to be aired] Then I thought about it and realised how crazy that was. Good enough is an ever shifting mark and being brave and being crazy enough means warts and all… no holding back… and nothing will ever be perfect.
LIFE… is a work in progress… don’t you think?
LEAVE A NOTE… [I love it when you do!]
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
My crazy friend Jean!!!
Hi!!!!
Happy Birthday…a few days after the very awesome day of YOU!!!
And – your video of your artwork – I love it!! It really is so awesome to watch you CREATE!!
So – maybe we could be crazier (I know I could be….). And yet – maybe it’s as you say – and we are right where we’re meant to be…
Here’s to being as crazy as we choose to be!!!
Too right Lance
It’s funny… this was the first clip I edited with the new version of iMovie so this was the first time I was able to speed up the footage [which is handy when painting because no one wants to watch stroke by painful stroke] LOL Previously I had to cut huge bits out to make it shorter so this was [both] a real challenge and also a bit of a pain in the neck. You might notice I mucked up the speed in a couple of places but luckily it all came out in the wash (((chuckles))) Thanks for watching. And for saying. I really appreciate that
Hi Jean,
“Good enough” is often subjective, we are our own worst critics…..I say just put it out…..you have, I think it’s great. Happy belated Birthday trust it was great also!
be good to yourself
David
Hi David
Thanks so much for that. And yes… you’re right. Good enough is subjective. Sometimes we just have to throw caution to the wind and do it. If it turns out to be a mistake well… too bad… we learned something.
The world is changing rapidly don’t you think? There are so few precedents for what we are now attempting to do. Especially here online. This makes it kind of hard on the one hand… but provides a unique opportunity on the other. How much is too much… how little is not enough. We just have to try it… and see.
Keep on trying new things Jean
I will. I’ve always been a curious dreamer LOL Thanks David
Hi Jean ,another jolt to the old brain box (and that music is so ME )
Do I think I have not been adventuous enough ? Well yes and no as I had to curb my off shooting to bring up my family . Now I look back and wonder am I past it ? Well no I can still surprise people and myself ……telling my minister I am having a Jazz funeral (Old news huh?) Asked my eldest GD to read Robert Frosts “A path less taken ” as at the time I wanted her to see you don’t have to follow follow the sheep .She surprised me by saying “OK Grani ” lifted the book and that was that no other response HUH? So thats the last but but how many others can I fit in until ……..Och they just happen and I quietly say to myself “OOPS anyone noticed that one” Would love the hands to stop shaking to get some more painting in sadly I don’t think that will happen so have to think again Meanwhile thank you
M8 for all the nudges along this road …….an lang may yer lum reek
Hahaha thanks Elinor… you are such a blessing in my life
I know you’ve always “done your crazy thing” and I so admire you for that. No need to stop now though. The path less taken has a heap of bends… and a shock around every corner [preaching to the converted here I know] But it’s great isn’t it? Life never stops surprising us. Even in the small ways. I read a quote the other day that really made me laugh “You can observe a lot by just looking around” so droll BUT so funny. And true. How many of us miss the small unnoticed happy bits. The stopping. The thinking about it. The noticing. How many of us forget to be just a little bit crazy. To do that crazy thing even if it does seem [a bit] crazy at the time. My kids still talk about their grandmother dancing the highland fling on the beach a week before she was diagnosed with cancer. But that didn’t stop her. I have photos of her on her next birthday in hospital wearing a pith helmet (((chuckles)))
I love the idea of your jazz funeral E… but you’re so not going there yet. More power to your paintbrushes I say. Forget about the shakes. Just add them in. Make them a part of it. You know… like that guy who paints the wobbles in the telephone lines… what was his name? American guy. Um. Was it Charles Burchfield? Anyway… he painted the energy around things. The wind around the trees… and stuff. I loved that. You could see him in the work. It doesn’t have to be perfect E. It just has to be. I know you can do it. I want to see more from you [with the greatest respect of course] LOL
PS so glad you liked the music. It’s Bag Raiders. Andy left the CD in my car. That’s how I stay current BTW. When he wanted it back I said no (((chuckles)))
Ohhhhhhhh YOU are so the best ! Thank you I will persevere .
Now what can I get up to this day Grin
A very happy belated birthday! Loved the clip. The sure hand of an artist! I am in awe. About those crazy things, and speaking of birthdays, don’t you think we get crazier as we get older? We have more of a sense of ourselves, we care less about what others think, and we have a greater appreciation of the precious gift of life. Or maybe I’m just getting crazier and trying to make it sound good!!
Thanks Galen
You’re so right. I do think we get crazier as we get older. But wiser too oddly enough. Maybe when there’s less to lose… we don’t care so much about looking silly… and we know how short it’s all going to be anyway [which I just realised is exactly what you just said only different - wise girl] [grin]
Or maybe we were crazy all along and just woke up one day and decided we were all done with rehearsals. Whaddayareckon? (((chuckles)))
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!
Hi Jean. Not sure why but you popped into my head today and when something like that happens I usually follow it up.
This blog post was just what I needed to remind myself of today and here you are delivering all the right words.
I am generally a bit out there by nature, but the grist of daily life requires a certain amount of restraint to stay “safe” and gradually over time we slip back into the mould. But some time ago I promised myself we wouldnt do that again.
I was about to waste my afternoon painting a commercially typical brad and butter painting, but instead Im going to pick up the brush and donate the rest of today to leaping blindly into the abyss and see what “crazy” really means.
Mwah !
Greg
Hi Greg
So great to see you here! You know… my ears were burning earlier… so it was YOU eh? (((chuckles))) I say go that crazy thing! Jump in. Your work is so a-m-a-z-i-n-g anyway… that adding a bit of crazy into the mix will only make it even better [if that's at all possible] I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Maybe I’ll bump into you around the traps one day for a natter about paint and to see what you did LOL
Thanks so much for stopping by to say hello