Tonight, standing in my garage, I looked at the wall covered in photos and memorabilia from my life... and while these things bring me joy to look at, to remember the times and places I'd been, they're holding me back... They're preventing growth. They are a tomb in which I've housed my creativity, never to be used again. They've become an altar to my past in which I pray my previous works and deeds will be enough to get me through life... and that's not how it works.
It is time to move forward.
I need to remember why and how I accomplished all of these things and do them again. I don't want to wear these images and tokens from my past like a moth-worn letterman jacket. I want them to be streamers attached to the guidon of my life... And I want to add more with each passing day.
2020 and 2021 have been a real eye-opener for me. I became an award-winning author. I found a great job. I like what I do. I get compensated very well for my time and efforts... And that leaves me with the ability to let go of the past and move forward. It gives me a freedom to break the shackles of looking backward and set my sights on the future...
I am going to create more.
I am going to draw, and take photos.
I am going to write another book - Sexy vampires in Space! Volume ONE! ... wait, that's been done I think... Or maybe I'm just thinking of Twitter?
... where was I? Oh, right ...
I'm going to make it my goal in life to help other people do what they want to do! What's your dream? What are you going to do in 2022? Stop looking back and saying, "That was the best I'll be." and, instead, say, "That was just the beginning."
I took down my wall of stuff... my altar to the younger me. I cleared out the whole area. I moved shelves, threw things in the trash, ripped old photos down, and I've made space for the next chapter in my life. In OUR lives actually... mine and A.J.'s.
There are big things in the works here, kids—Big, awesome, wonderful, strange, and terrifying things!
And it's going to be fucking awesome.