On Speed and Permission
Diana F+, Velvia 100 cross-processed, fish-eye lens
An email from a friend has me thinking about speed this morning, and how I make my projects so quickly. (You'd all probably stop liking me for good if you knew that this feels rather slow to me.) I do have some moves around speed, and here's one I'll share with you before I take a little internet holiday:
Waiting for permission slows everything down.
I used to wait for permission a lot. I still wait now, but for other things, like my time or my moment. But that's different from waiting for approval, or admission to a money-making machine (aka industry). It's different than waiting for someone to swoop you out of a slush pile and send you more than a letter of admiration.
We spend a lot of time and energy waiting for validation, waiting for someone to certify our talent so we'll finally believe it for ourselves. Waiting for an engraved invitation to arrive on our doorstep before we do what we really want to do.
So what could you move forward on, if you stopped waiting for permission and simply wrote the words you can hear are missing? If you simply made the thing you want to see exist in the world? If you considered that the idea itself IS the engraved invitation, and you are free to accept or decline?
It is deeply satisfying to do the work I want to do in the world, right now. There's no place I'm trying to 'get to' or arrive. No middle men green-lighting or red-lighting. There's just me, making the work that's mine to make, and there's the people who need it, finding it. We're finding each other, no permission required.
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 8:21AM | Share Article 19 Comments | Email Article Print Article | Permalink | in creative work
Reader Comments (19)
I came here via Kate (sweet - salty), LOVE this space and look forward to getting to know you. I am sitting on the metaphorical dock, as it relates to photography. While I've had a few paid gigs and could likely get more if I tried to put myself out there....I feel shackled....not by my job (I work regular office hours), not by my partner (he's incredibly supportive) and not even from any other outside force....but something holds me back from within....and for the life of me....I just can't seem to move forward on this.
Fear is a very powerful thing.
"the idea is the invitation"...thank you for this.
and love the image...inspiring me to 'write all the way to it'.
"There's just me, making the work that's mine to make, and there's the people who need it, finding it. We're finding each other, no permission required."
You just wrote the credo for heart-centered marketing (marketing is not a bad word, I'm learning) - the REAL deal! Happy internet break (and rest for your soul-weary bones!)
I feel this is true down in my own bones... and I have been waiting for some sort of invitation for a long long time.
What would it be like to grant myself permission?
Enjoy your rest - rest in your rest.
This is an inspiring outlook. I am definitely going to try to apply it to my own life. Good for you.
Oh, good reminder, JL. I have an idea I am setting in motion this week. Have not been waiting for permission...I admit I often procrastinate because I don't focus like I should. Sometimes, too many ideas can clutter the mind, so I write them in my journals and try to stay focused. Action feels so much better than waiting.
"We spend a lot of time and energy waiting for validation, waiting for someone to certify our talent so we'll finally believe it for ourselves."
I've spent so much of my life feeling like I can't do what I really want to do until X happens. There is always another X. Always.
I feel like I need to thank you for every single post you've ever written. All that I've read so far are inspiring to the 10th power.
indeed. permission is becoming an ugly word in my head and in my process. time to get rid of it!
pssst...i love what you've been writing about lately. you + your work seem to be taking off. so glad you're not waiting for permission! at 22 i feel like people keep telling me i should get this degree or that experience before i do my life work. slow down, they say. find something accredited to do for a while. apply for a government job. (BLAH!!!) i'm working fiercly at smiling polietly, nodding, and moving on in my own direction, following the voice of my intuition as closely as possible. thanks for your mentorship from afar. i'm definitely exhausted putting out the fires of what people expect or want me to do, so i can simply have space to walk into my best, truest work. what a job! (but it's worth doing--that much i'm certain of). -and- i absolutely love your latest poetry zine. i read it at jen's and weeped. a lot. thank you, beautiful.
rach
Beautiful. I'm glad I found you recently.
Lovely. Thank you.
I've been thinking along the same lines regarding something in my own life I want to leap forward with. I love your thoughts and perspective, finding myself thinking "yes!" as I read along. Have a good weekend!
This post really speaks to me. I love how you state that we are waiting for an invitation. I am constantly waiting for approval .....waiting for someone to validate that I am good at something....when really I need to find that approval within myself. I am finally starting to realize that I have much more creative energy inside me than what I have ever recognized in the past. I love your blog...so glad I found you.
am loving the no permission required.
xo
thank you so much for this wisdom. your words were exactly what i needed this morning. xo
You inspired me to start a little project on my Blog. Please stop by and check it out. Thank you for your honest words! If you find a moment to visit please say hello.
http://www.leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/
XO
Leigh
Hi Jen,
I visited your site a long time ago, but it was recommended to me again recently by the writer of www.schmutzie.com. I'm glad I stopped by! What a wonderful post. It mirrors what I've been contemplating lately and feels like an affirmation of my efforts. I've always considered myself an "aspiring" writer, not yet to the place where I can call myself a true writer. Then I decided that I would just declare that yes I AM a writer, because I do write (on my blog - carmsjournal.blogspot.com) and I've had a few reviews published in the newspaper. Sometimes I think the declaration has to come before the feeling of legitimacy.
Anyways, thanks again for being wonderfully inspiring. Now I'll go have a look at the rest of your site!
yes yes YES !
oh the things I have failed to do becuase I waited not any more !
Very nice post ! I'd say that is one of the most important things I've leant over the last couple of years - to give myself permission and secondly to make decisions quickly.
It doesn't half speed things up and free up all the "waiting" and "deciding" energy !
Thanks :)
Rhiannon