cynosure

It’s that simple.

Beloved citizens of the world,
I want you to do something revolutionary.

And I want you to start
right
about
now.

I want you to revolt against the media, against the society, against anyone and everyone– teachers, parents, classmates, coworkers, “friends”, YOURSELF– who tells you the lie that you are not good enough.

I want you to revolt against every corporation and commercial that tells you that you won’t be attractive, smart, get a significant other, or have friends unless you buy, eat, or wear their product and look exactly like everyone else.

I want you to revolt against every single message that tells you that you have to be perfect, that you have to fit in, that you have to look or act a certain way, that you have to be wanted and loved by other people, that you have to be anything but just yourself to have a happy and peaceful life.

I want you to revolt against anything in the world that tells you you have to do anything other than simply BE YOU.

I want you stop listening to everyone else, including me. I want you to listen to yourself.

You’re a fucking star, and you know it. You’re amazing at doing the only thing YOU can, that no one else can– be yourself.

Now go revolt.

Go do.

Go BE.

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Answer to the last post: RVXN stands for revolution.

And now that we’ve started this revolution, I want you to share it.
Tweet it, Facebook It, Stumble it, Bookmark it, Email it to a friend.

Spread the word, and ¡Viva la Revolución!

—

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I’ve been hearing a certain type of comment quite often lately, and it bothers me. Though I know it’s because I take it personally, I feel the utter unflattering- and unhelpfulness of the comment applies to many things in life, and in a way can even serve as encouragement and motivation.

Let me just ask you this: did anyone ever say to Ansel Adams, “Oh, I wish I had your camera”?

Probably not.

Do people say “I wish I had your pencils/paintbrushes!” to a sketcher or a painter? “I wish I had your word processing program!” to a writer? Did anyone ever say “I wish I had your piano, your deafness, your slight lack of mental stability that led to your creation of great masterworks” to Beethoven?

Probably not.

So when you see someone doing great work, realize it’s not their camera that’s taking the pictures, or their guitar that’s playing the song. It’s not their microphone or high-fidelity recording technology that’s doing the singing. It’s not their violin bow moving on its own, creating moving melodies.

Instead of believing that buying something more high-end will magically bestow to you talent or powers, why not believe in yourself?

Why not believe in your own abilities?

You don’t need a $5,000 flute, a $1,000 image editing program, a $300 gym membership, or high-quality paper at $20 a sheet to play a beautiful song, design an amazing image, run through the streets and strengthen your body, or write/draw a masterpiece.

After all, just buying a membership to the gym won’t make you any healthier. Doing something will.

You just need yourself, and that’s it. (And a big healthy dose of passion doesn’t hurt either.) You really don’t need anything else to help you. Don’t depend on the instruments to make something beautiful for you– make it yourself with what you have, because what you have is most certainly enough.

And it’s the limitations of a poorly constructed violin or butcher paper and a stick that challenge the true masters to create their greatest works within external constraints. And they don’t start out with expensive equipment, either. That’s not what makes them talented or skilled.

They start with nothing but themselves and their own determination. They practice, and they persevere. They pull themselves up despite failure after failure. They recover after life breaks them apart, and keep on going.

And so can you.

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Thank you always for reading ♥

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