*Typing*

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Blaise Pascal said that. Unfortunately, the French philosopher didn't give us any inkling as to how one overcomes this inability; this infinite restlessness. To develop the ability to sit quietly in a room alone––at least from my experience––you must practice sitting quietly in a room alone. In your first sitting, you will get restless after just one or two minutes. In your second sitting, you might make it to five minutes before giving into the urge to reach for your phone. However, with each new sitting, you will begin to enjoy your own company for ten minutes at a time, twenty minutes at a time and thirty minutes at a time.

All of us suffer from varying degrees of insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. Those who don't are either fully-functioning narcissists or have somehow managed to transcend to some alternate plane that the vast majority of us will never reach. Yet, despite this collective experience, we have a tendency to assume that we are the only ones who are insecure, anxious and uncertain. To ease our suffering, we look for validation from friends, loved ones and complete strangers. Something simple that each of us can do to ease the suffering of those around us is to stop asking for validation and instead start giving. It should never feel phoned in and it should never feel inauthentic. However, it's worth remembering that if you're feeling insecure in a room, there is a good chance other people are too. Instead of worrying about what they're thinking of you, recognize they're worried about what you think of them. Walk up to them and extend a hand.

Holy men don't die when they lie on a bed of nails because their weight is evenly distributed. In other words, there is less pressure on any one single nail.

I have found the same to be true in regards to creative projects. If you place all of your weight on a single creative project, it will feel excruciating each time you come up against a sharp point of friction. Instead, spread yourself out good and thin over two to three creative projects.

Each time you get stuck on one creative project, step away, let it breath and move to another. You will feel less pressure during the creative process; and you might even be more prolific.

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote over 500 books throughout his career. His secret? He worked on multiple books at once.

I am fortunate to have fallen in love a couple of times in my life. While every love is different, what has remained the same––at least for me––is the way in which the love hits me. It feels not unlike stepping into a galloping river and then being completely swept away. I believe most good things are this way: friendships, experiences, opportunities and creative pursuits. They require a degree of work and thoughtfulness but they should feel as though there is an invisible wind at your back. We have a tendency to romanticize pain and suffering, believing that for something to be valuable it must embody these qualities. But, what if this isn't true? What if good things felt good and bad things, bad. What if the way in which something makes you feel is indicative of whether or not it is a thing worth pursuing? I digress.

It's impossible to compete with someone without also comparing yourself to them. Competition is comparison. It's a comparison of who is better. If it's true originality you're after, you should never compete. You should seek to create work that's so wildly abnormal, it exists beyond comparison and stands alone from the competition. It might take a lifetime to create work of this nature. However, even in the moments you fail, by attempting to create outside the confines of competition and comparison, you will create work that feels fresh, new and ambitious. Good luck.