What are the walls that hold us in? Keep us from trying. Hold us back.
Hold us back from what, I suppose… What stops us from seeing that there’s no time like the present. What do we need these walls for that seems only there to keep us from reaching the heights of our potential?
Maybe there’s something good about hesitation. Maybe there’s a reason for metaphorical walls?
I’m inspired by action. The baby’s first words. The significant other who asks for what she needs, even when it’s scary. Inspired by the little victories of buying the cookie rack you’ve been eying for months, and inspired by the friend who’s always got a million projects popping off.
Why then does procrastination grip me?
Just seize the day!
Seize the mother fucking day.
Do the laundry. Build the website. Kiss the boy.
In Chicago there’s this great ethos of, YES AND…
It exists because the walls are so… strong. The walls, maybe they are strong for some good reason. Maybe they exist because they help save you from falling off the cliff, getting bitten by the snake, eaten by the Tiger or the Tiger King. And maybe because the risks are occasionally life or death, maybe that’s why we need a push? When we need it, that’s when we need people to say YES AND…
You’re thinking about raking the leaves.
Yes, and I’ll go with you.
You’re thinking about writing a story.
Yes, and I tell you what, I want to read it yesterday! Hurry up, slow poke.
You’re thinking about going on a quest to save the princess.
Yes, and take this sword, it’s dangerous to go it alone.
Surround yourself with a community that doesn’t just inspire you. Surround yourself with friends who say, “Yes, and!” with enthusiasm to all your projects. The world isn’t as deadly as it was when we were snot picking cave people with lizard brains. World Devouring Vipers are few and far between. But psychologically, physiologically in our genes, our DNA, our subconscious, it still feels like death lurks behind every corner.
Think about it, who gives you that push? Get them on the phone and tell them, thank you. Thank you for being my Yes And.
Be that person for others.
“I’ve got weird anxiety.”
Yes, and I’ll help you climb those walls. I’ll be there for you, and if we fall, we’ll fall together, and be more apt at climbing the next time we try. Which is right now. Which is tomorrow. Which is forever, and together, and forever and together and forever and together we will climb.
We’ll get to the top, look out and over the clouds. Yes? Yes, and we’ll realize it’s nothing but walls as far as the eye can see. Walls of rejection, walls of, ‘I can’t do this,’ walls of, ‘What if they don’t laugh,’ walls of, ‘What IF THEY DO LAUGH?!’
I’ll be there with you, and it’ll make all the difference. It makes the walls worth scaling, it makes you want to scale them forever. Scale them with me. Come with me. Write the story. Send me the rough draft. Be lonely, be scared, be sad, – but yes and… be all those things with me. Hold my hand. Lift me up. Take my hand, let me lift you up.
That’s the only way we will reach such great heights.
[SP] Beyond the walls – Prompt by u/Lady_Oh
