the more important it is, the harder it is to get there. you might as well get out of your own way.

Reflection for the day:

Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, 

Resistance will unfailingly point to true North—mean- 

ing that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing. 

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can 

navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling 

or action that we must follow before all others. 

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is 

to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel 

toward pursuing it. 

                                -Steven Pressfield

There are always logistics.  Getting the funding for a project.  Getting the right people involved.  Getting the right people to commit to the project.  For me, finding rehearsal times that work for all those right people.  And then finding space to hold those rehearsals.  And then finding affordable space to hold those rehearsals.  Teaching myself about copyright law.  Obtaining the licenses for the music, certificates for the liability insurance, the technical documents.  Finding someone to light the show - someone who will create with the same vision I have.  Creating the digital and print artwork (or, finding someone to do it for me.  Ditto the "same vision" issue).  There are always, always, more logistics.

And then there are the more insidious barriers to the artistic process.  Often they work in tandem with the logistics.  The project isn't important enough to devote this much time to, when I could be working/taking class/auditioning/giving my friends the attention they deserve/watching tv.  Or, who am I to ask time and money of people for my artistic pursuit?  What do I have to say that's so important?  What do I really know about choreography anyway?  Or even, here I am, saying I'm telling the stories of 20- and 30-somethings in their romantic experience, but I'm only one 25-year-old with one romantic experience, so what do I really know?  Maybe I'm just pretending that this stuff is universal.  Maybe I'm a stereotype and my friends and family are just obligatorily supportive.   

And even writing this right now - maybe no one cares.  Jaema you're such a whiney so-called "artist."  Everyone has to deal with logistics.  And self-doubt.

Well, some of that is true - everyone does have to deal with logistics, and self-doubt.  And any artistic process is going to have its difficulties.  And I choose to do it anyway, and I choose to do with with grace, and with gratitude for the people who are invested and committed to the project (because there are a bunch of them... four incredible dance artists, a fantastic lighting designer, and many many enthusiastic audience members and financial and emotional backers).  Perhaps I just look at these challenges as sure-fire signs that I'm doing the right thing - this is what my artistic calling is, at this moment.

I guess what I'm saying is that I share this to share my own experience with the power of choice.  If you're doing something important, there's going to be trouble.  I can't help the logistical challenges, but I can change the voice in the back of my head from whiney and doubtful to grateful, graceful, and powerful.  I challenge anyone to try that attitude on, and see what happens.

And regardless, I'm gonna put on this show, and that voice is going to power through.  See you then.