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Brittany, Don't You Know?
If you know me personally--like, really know me--you have heard me gush about one song all damn summer. Danny Don't You Know? by Ninja Sex Party is the song I needed in high school. It's the song of my early 20's as I left a crumbling engagement and stable career to be an artist. Hell, it's the song of my 30's as I struggle through the worst 365 days of my lifetime. I believe in the power of this song so damn much that I'm going to plop it right here and wait until you're done listening to it.
Welcome back. You feel pumped yet? Yeah, you do. Here's the thing, as humans we have an incredible talent for only seeing our negative qualities. We get trapped into comparing our life to the lives of those we know and admire. We berate ourselves, believing that we'll never be successful or will never achieve anything cool in our timeline. Or, as I discussed a couple weeks ago, we have people in our life that are more than happy to point out how we don't compare.
When you're trapped in the moment, it's almost impossible to see your past accomplishments let alone dream of future success. Furthermore, we forget that those we admire today all started somewhere and all had to learn their craft. Maybe they were lucky and had a bit more emotional and financial support than you did, but they were all beginners once. Success isn't a finite resource. Their success doesn't rob you of your own. For example, just look at Ninja Sex Party. A musical comedy duo I've been listening to since my first degree-seeking-university-excursion. They sang about genitals and unicorns and, lo, it was good. But they've grown. Both members of the band are open about the steps they've been taking to improve at their craft. In eight years, they've gone from a niche corner of YouTube fandom to playing shows on Conan with their buds Tupperware Remix Party. Let's not forget, Ninja Sex party is hitting their stride in their late 30's and early 40's. Another musician I admire, Megaran, was just added to the Guinness Book of World Records and tours yearly in Japan. He's also in his late 30's.
Countless other artists, writers, musicians, and thespians found successes way later in life. Success doesn't have an expiration date. Keep learning, keep working, keep trying new things, and I promise your craft will take you places you never dreamed of before. When I sold at my first convention in 2010, I had no idea it would become such a huge part of my life and my career. I was selling charms I made for fun, not thinking about table decoration, studio presentation, or anything else. I just plopped at a table with some earrings "displayed' in an egg carton and had the best damn time of my life. Man, have things changed in 8 years. Not only do I have a convention route I travel every year, now some conventions invite me to come to their show as a guest. I might not be where I want to in my career, but I can't deny how cool it is to see my face on a convention's banners and website like I'm someone kinda cool and important. I really hope to live up to the trust that these shows put in me. Now that I've gotten a taste of what a major comic con looks like from the vendor side, I want to push myself even more into bigger and better shows. I want to keep bringing quality content both on and off the convention floor to cool people like you who take the time to keep up with what I'm doing. And I want to keep cheering you on and encouraging you to reach for every damn dream you have. I may not be the most talented, have the most resources behind me, or be the most charismatic artist on the internet but I am the only one who can do things in my style and my way. To compare my path to other artists is foly. It diminishes my unique experiences and robs me of my joy. To only focus on my failures as defeats, and not learning experiences, does the same. Listening to voices that tell me I should quit or will amount to nothing would invite fear to take over.
To believe that nothing will change and I will always be stuck is the biggest lie I will ever tell myself. The same goes for you. We all have our own list of what is holding us back from reaching for our dreams. Our little faults and idiosyncrasies that "prove" we will never make it. The people who tell us we're going to starve on the street. Don't buy into the lies or the pressures of life telling you that you'll never make it. Leave the negative people in your life behind and find your tribe. Because you will make it. It will be weird, it will be wild, it will be in ways you never expected but you will make it.
So let's step on the stage of life, and rock the shit out of it. You are the star tonight.
