Everything you want to do in life begins with taking the first step.  If you’re a perfectionist, like I tend to be, you like to ponder things over and over again until you’ve perfected them in your head before you begin.  But sometimes you can become exhausted before even beginning the execution of whatever it is you’re wanting to create or do.  I was watching the commencement speech that Oprah gave to the 2012 class of Spelman college that she used to attend and one thing she said really stood out to me.  You must have a direction.  

I think sometimes we think we can just live day by day, hoping the “Universe” will eventually put us in the “right job” or with a million dollar bank account.  It really does take action.  Wanting to write a 300-page best-selling novel or win an Emmy requires action, not simply just thinking about it or wishing and hoping.  Oprah mentioned she had a boyfriend who would come and pick her up and she would always ask “Where are we going?” to which he would reply “Just going for a ride”… In her life, she’s always wanted to know what direction she’s heading in.  Being open-minded people and dreamers, I think sometimes we can get stuck in constantly searching and wanting to “begin life”…

What is my direction necessarily?  To win an Oscar, to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, to win an Emmy… This is my direction… Unlike setting out to be a doctor, the thing that seems discouraging a lot of the time is that there is no clear path set out for someone that wants to head in this particular direction.  So what does a person do?  Ponder and dream and hope and wish?  Yes, but they need to take action.  They need to take the first step in the direction of where they want to be and who they want to become.  And then the Universe will put everything into place…

There is something within every one of us wanting to express itself.  When expressed, there is no greater feeling in the world.  Creativity.  One might think love or being in love is be the greatest feeling in the world but I would say that love and creativity are synonymous.  When we give birth to new ideas and take action into the execution of these ideas, we give birth to a feeling.  This feeling is the same feeling of being in love, at least from my experience.  Both love and creativity require giving, whether it’s to one person or to the entire world.  I believe this is what we are on this planet for and it’s becoming clearer to me more and more each day.  When you reflect on the past and the moments in life that seem the sweetest, what was present during that time?  Could it have been possible without love or creativity happening?

Take for example the following…writer’s block.  I would say writer’s block comes to people when they are out of alignment with that “feeling”.  Instead of expressing their own unique ideas and feeling confident about what they are putting on paper they are getting in their own way with thoughts of “I don’t know if this is good enough” or even doubting thoughts like “I’m not a writer, who am I kidding?”… Whether you’re a writer like myself or someone that wouldn’t call themselves an “artist” by trade, you are still here to express your creativity in your current environment.  I would like to encourage anyone reading this post to remember that “feeling” of having created something or fallen in love for the first time whenever you start to doubt yourself or start to worry if something is good enough… It all begins with you.  You are the distribution center of creativity in your life.

It has been exactly one month since I’ve been away from the City of Angels.  This is the longest I have been away from the city since I moved to go to school there eight years ago.  Well, technically I spent my first two years there in Ventura.  Anyhow, being back to the midwest spending time with my family has been quite something.  Getting to spend more than a few days at a time with them has been pretty easygoing as opposed to the crazy rush of the holidays when I’m usually back visiting.  I have five brothers (I’m second oldest) and it is usually quite difficult getting us all together in the same room.  It’s been great, really, seeing how much they’ve grown up and getting to be a part of their lives rather than feeling like a visitor or a guest most of the time.  

Photo: Maumee River - Toledo, Ohio

Being away from your usual environment truly gives you a new perspective.  LA, for me, had become suffocating and overwhelming.  I found myself needing to get away and reconnect with my family as I was feeling lost and alone, although completely surrounded by supportive friends and people everywhere I turned.  Although this is not the case for everyone that goes and lives there, it had become my perspective.  Now that I’m in a small little town in southern Michigan for a summer visit, population 1,569 to be exact according to the sign, I am being forced to see things differently.  What I’m realizing is that it’s not a matter of better or worse, good or bad, should have or should have not, but a matter of perspective.  

Going to a grocery store in LA like Whole Foods is a completely different experience than going to Kroger’s in Toledo, OH.  The way of life is completely different.  The energy is different.  The people look, act and talk differently.  Although there are all of these differences, no matter where someone resides on this planet, they think they are “right”.  They believe their beliefs are “the way” or their style is the most fashionable.  Some people don’t give a damn about either.  I think getting away from LA for the summer is really helping remind me that there is more to life than what lies between the 101, the 405, the 110 and the 10 freeways.  Is LA better or worse than the status quo that is the midwest?  It doesn’t matter.  What matters, at least for myself being a filmmaker and writer, is broadening one’s perspective.  And I’m leaving for Europe next weekend to do just that…