Splendid! Really marvelous piece (including the naysayer counter voice). I loved this, and agree on our splintered selves making us larger, not tinier. Selfishly, I’m relieved that your creative, expansive self followed art, not academia. Xo
Hmm. I’m going to Pollstar music conference in LA tomorrow but maybe I’m also going to Sedona AZ or Yuma. (I think my wife and I are going to Yuma later in the month for an arts symposium
Thanks so much, Linda!! It's fun to imagine that somewhere, somehow, they're all taking place. At the very least, by imagining them, they get to live within us! ❤️
As a mostly A student with a steady 3.8 GPA in high school and community college, I wonder about the self that went to University of Washington, or the self that went to Cornish College of the Arts occasionally. The musings are usually short lived though, I remember my reasons for not applying, and I think, me being me, I would make those same choices every time. Now, as a 44 year old blue-collar production worker trying to figure out my next steps, I wonder sometimes if I could have done things differently and be better off now… but I don’t think so. For whatever reason, I have the distinct feeling that I’m exactly where I need to be to learn the lessons which will serve me in whatever comes next. I’m not a religious person (though I’ve been doing my toe into philosophical Buddhism and meditation lately), so it’s kind of a weird feeling to have.
Thanks for the comment, Jules! I'm glad you feel like you're where you need to be. It's a lot better than the alternative. I guess if we like the people we've become, then we have to believe that our choices, even the imperfect ones, somehow got us here...
Absolutely. And I really do like who I am now, love, even. Perhaps all my myriad selves love themselves too, but I think the fact that this me, here and now does, is all that actually matters. 🖤
I love that you embrace all these versions of yourself. I guess I have always seen it it more negatively - as doors closing behind us. Yes, our splinter selves enlarge us, but for me there's a yearning for what never was or no longer is. Great to see all these photos of you!
Thank you, Susan! Well, I have that yearning too. In some ways I wrote this piece to address it. One person wrote me who took issue with the word splinter. Perhaps I should have called it branching selves. Perhaps I'm just one branch that came off a common trunk. :-) Anyway, I find it comforting to imagine these others taking the paths I didn't. Helps with the FOMO!
Splendid! Really marvelous piece (including the naysayer counter voice). I loved this, and agree on our splintered selves making us larger, not tinier. Selfishly, I’m relieved that your creative, expansive self followed art, not academia. Xo
Thanks so much, Ellen!! And yeah.... Probably for this self it was always gonna be this path—academia was definitely a longshot...🤣
Hmm. I’m going to Pollstar music conference in LA tomorrow but maybe I’m also going to Sedona AZ or Yuma. (I think my wife and I are going to Yuma later in the month for an arts symposium
Just love this. It’s so inspiring!
And makes me wonder if we really haven’t lived all the lives we imagine maybe in a past or future life! Bravissima 😊
Thanks so much, Linda!! It's fun to imagine that somewhere, somehow, they're all taking place. At the very least, by imagining them, they get to live within us! ❤️
I really enjoyed reading this!
As a mostly A student with a steady 3.8 GPA in high school and community college, I wonder about the self that went to University of Washington, or the self that went to Cornish College of the Arts occasionally. The musings are usually short lived though, I remember my reasons for not applying, and I think, me being me, I would make those same choices every time. Now, as a 44 year old blue-collar production worker trying to figure out my next steps, I wonder sometimes if I could have done things differently and be better off now… but I don’t think so. For whatever reason, I have the distinct feeling that I’m exactly where I need to be to learn the lessons which will serve me in whatever comes next. I’m not a religious person (though I’ve been doing my toe into philosophical Buddhism and meditation lately), so it’s kind of a weird feeling to have.
Thanks for the comment, Jules! I'm glad you feel like you're where you need to be. It's a lot better than the alternative. I guess if we like the people we've become, then we have to believe that our choices, even the imperfect ones, somehow got us here...
Absolutely. And I really do like who I am now, love, even. Perhaps all my myriad selves love themselves too, but I think the fact that this me, here and now does, is all that actually matters. 🖤
I love that you embrace all these versions of yourself. I guess I have always seen it it more negatively - as doors closing behind us. Yes, our splinter selves enlarge us, but for me there's a yearning for what never was or no longer is. Great to see all these photos of you!
Thank you, Susan! Well, I have that yearning too. In some ways I wrote this piece to address it. One person wrote me who took issue with the word splinter. Perhaps I should have called it branching selves. Perhaps I'm just one branch that came off a common trunk. :-) Anyway, I find it comforting to imagine these others taking the paths I didn't. Helps with the FOMO!