smacking me awake

I don't even know who linked to this article, but I started reading the whole thing this morning, and oh. Wow. So many sections just kick me in the pants.

We have a choice; the alternative is to risk nothing, remain safe, and create art – or run a business – that comes not from a place of vulnerability and transparency, or a place that’s truly, uniquely ourselves, but from the surface. We might even do well commercially, creating from this space (afterall, there’s plenty of money in creating crap) – but even if it rises above the mediocre it will never, ever – and this is the point – say the thing our soul has been wanting to say. We will always be dissatisifed.

The question isn’t, Should I risk? Of course you should! But we’re already risking. The question is, Which risk should you take? Which risk scares you more – the risk of failing, of thrashing about creating a bunch of crappy images on your way to creating something great? Or the risk of doing nothing, watching your ideas gather dust while the images in your mind go unexpressed, unmade, as your life passes.

Read the whole thing.