“True art divides the audience”
-Rick Rubin
What you read on this site is incomplete.
I know painters who never sell their work because “it is not quite finished.” Photographers who delay setting up a website because their “photos really aren’t that great.” Performers who never sign up for the stage because “no one would laugh.” I can relate, as no piece on The Age Gap Experience feels quite ready for anyone to read. But I am sharing it anyway.
One of our best contemporary authors, Ryan Holiday, often writes about the writing process. I remember one of his articles describing the cringing feeling he had after rereading some of his work, years later. He couldn't believe how bad it was, how arrogant it sounded, and how "off" the content and overall advice had been. And he couldn't take it back.
But, he explained, he had to write it then, to get to now. He states: “Creative work isn’t about pleasure. It’s not always fun. It’s about reaching something inside yourself, something that society and everyday life make extraordinarily difficult."
There is something written on this blog that is completely wrong, makes little sense, is poorly written, and maybe even offensive.
But, I am convinced that by sharing it, by thinking about it, and then coming back to it later with a new perspective, is how we improve, and ultimately, how we figure things out. Sometimes, by being dead wrong about something now, will eventually lead us to the right answer or solution later. I would bet that most people would say they have learned the most from their mistakes and failures--the catastrophes of life.
Bono of U2, who is arguably the best songwriter and poet of our lifetime, had to write this:
“A boy tries hard to be a man
His mother takes him by his hand
If he stops to think he starts to cry
Oh why
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow”
To get this:
“Every wave that broke me
Every song that wrote me
Every dawn that woke me
Was to get me home to you, see
Every soul that left me
Every heart that kept me
The strangers that protected me
To bring me back to you”
It is with a spirit of discovery that I will share with you my thoughts and research — what I think is my best work at the time (or maybe just good enough), so we can start to build and figure things out — even if it takes a decade or two. I am committed to this process, so remember that as you read.
(Fine print: my lawyer said if I write this you can't sue me for any bad advice.)