Sunday, May 16, 2010

Wisdom from @Siskita: A Californian Hippie in New York: A Little Muuuusing on Enthuuuusiasm...

We as artists need to have enthusiasm, that feeling that you *have* to do something unique, passionate, often financially risky (as in the pursuit of being an artist in the first place), and do this in the face of the often discouraging orthodoxy of one's family, school, church, community or friends. The enthusiasm can start with a general "I want to do this field of artistry" and grow (or narrow) towards a specific "I want to do this work in this city with these people and discover this about myself" statement.

And we have to feed this enthusiasm despite the things other people say to us. I'm not saying we shouldn't allow our enthusiasm to get in the way of logic, but we shouldn't allow the things people tell us to create fear. Fear gets in the way of enthusiasm, usually because the fear we create is baseless or based on falsehoods. We fear talking to our agents, we fear bringing a new idea to a Producer, we don't put our inner enthusiasm out for all to see because we fear that it will be rejected, ridiculed, and harmed. But real enthusiasm is from the Gods, remember? Enthusiasm comes from a never-ending fount of energy, impervious to any real damage.

This is so true. The hardest thing about enthusiasm is keeping it going. If you see someone else pushing their own, or society's boundaries, give them some encouragement. A little nudge can really go a long way.

Posted via web from thepete's posterous

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