a bit of philosophy (bear with me)

A wise friend said something in conversation nearly a year and a half ago, and it is still with me. I keep thinking about that moment. She said, “your life is your art”. In other words, you are your own work of art; we live to actualize what each of us believes to be beautiful.

There are so many reasons this rings true, and I have been pondering it a lot lately. For one, the creation process in art – and in life – is painful. I have heard many a friend or artistic acquaintance expound on how “true art cannot be achieved without pain” - just as the full and accomplished life is not obtained over years of sunbathing by a pool. There is work involved, and personal pain and sacrifice. There are countless failures and the smallest moments of joy.

And it all takes time. The process of creating a beautiful life is never brief. Some friends and I were discussing Brad Pitt a few nights ago, and one of them pointed out that he is 45 years old. He is nearly twice our age. When he was 26 (my age), he had a small role in “Thelma & Louise” which, I’m sure, is a fond and funny memory for him, but not nearly the type of role that aligns to my understanding of who he is as an actor. His most definitive career moments, in my opinion, probably did not begin until he was at least into his mid-thirties (“Fight Club”).

Despite these sorts of examples, we all still seem to think we are supposed to achieve greatness before age 30. I sense a growing fear among my peers of the approaching infamous birth date – that it is somehow an endpoint, after which the focus will be on other things and we’ll have missed our only shot at actualizing our dreams.

I do admit that I am nervous about the large portions of my “canvas” that remain blank. The parts I have sketched out don’t always seem to make sense with each other. I have erased and started over a few times, and I don’t know - if I were to step back - whether any of it would seem beautiful.

But the point is that we are all moving toward something, which each of us will come to define for ourselves. We may have no concept of what our art will look like in ten or 20 years, but we should be confident that it can only keep getting better. There is no deadline for self-determination, there is only the possibility of greater beauty.