Here’s the literal definition of ‘standing in your own way’...
Believing that anything worth doing needs to be a struggle, hard, or using suffering as a base.
That belief is genetic.
Some people were raised to fail because succeeding at anything meant they’d hurt the feelings of those who were sitting at the dinner table with them.
They were not supposed to succeed. This is why they don’t. They have no idea what it looks like or feels like. They’ve never seen it close enough to know.
What is success? Seeing something through to its logical conclusion. That’s all it is.
One of the biggest lies people insist on telling themselves is that they don’t want things to be easy, because then ‘anyone/everyone’ would be doing it. This is fundamentally untrue. If it was true, there would be 2 billion people on the planet, not 8+ billion.
They want it to be easy, which clashes with this insane mindset of needing things to be hard in order to be worth it, that they have to struggle to get what they want, and that if they don’t suffer for their gains, then it’s not really theirs.
Look at their lives.
Be nothing
Do nothing
Have nothing
This is their life and this is their choice at this point. These are grown folks.
I have no sympathy or empathy for someone who behaves like this.
You can’t make me.
They are sitting in knee deep water. All they have to do is stand up.
But if they did, they’d lose the same people who bred them to fail. And their relationship with those people is more important to them than anything else.
This is by design.
This is what they’ve chosen.
This is the oubliette.
At least the Cave has a huge opening that they can walk in and out of at any time. The oubliette? Not so much. They will go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to decorate it.
To think there is shame in wanting things to be easy is batshit crazy. I’ll say it because yall won’t.
If it’s easy, if it’s fun? Won’t you want to do it more?
If it’s hard and a struggle and you had to suffer for it? Breeding ground for resentment, not triumph.
Hollow victory. Too tired to enjoy it.
I will use myself as an example.
When I first started making the Neon Vegas short films, I didn’t know what I was doing. I used Runway. I didn’t even know I was making it hard on myself until My Business Partner said
YOU HAVE TO RENDER THE IMAGES FIRST BEFORE BRINGING THEM TO THE VIDEO GENERATOR
Then it got easier. Way easier.
The more I did it, the easier it got.
Making these films, it doesn’t matter if they are 15 seconds long or 15 minutes long…
[and keep in mind none of the video gen is free]
If I need a certain image generated that will lead to a certain video generated, sometimes it will take 10-15 tries before I get it the way I need it to look to complete my vision.
Creation is finished. I’m just getting what i see out of my head and form it into the correct words that give me what it’s supposed to look like.
Notice I did not use the word “perfect” in any sort of way.
There is a difference between “perfect” and “correct”.
If it takes 10-15 takes, then it takes 10-15 takes.
But sometimes if it takes that many, then that isn’t what happened, and this is why it’s not coming out correct.
BUT IMAGINE IF I GAVE UP AFTER THREE TRIES.
Because it was “too hard”.
37 Miles Back wouldn’t exist.
The New One coming out at the end of Summer wouldn’t exist**.
The 14+ micro films i’ve made wouldn’t exist.
Sometimes I have to stop and think: am i forcing the scene or am i being true to what happened in the scene? sometimes I do force it, I can admit it. but when I don’t? I get it in one take.
But at the end of it, NONE OF THIS IS HARD. THERE IS NO STRUGGLE. THERE IS NO SUFFERING.
The notion that art needs to be hard or a struggle or that suffering must be involved is so dusty and stupid that it makes some artists give up on themselves and their projects. Makes them feel they’re not “doing it right” because they’re measuring themselves against people who are so incredibly full of shit because they continue to trust external forces over themselves.
To them I say this – yeah.. give up. Deadass give up.
This is not for them. They’re a tourist.
Don’t like being called a tourist? Then don’t be one.
Suffering for their art does not mean what they create will be good by default. So they might as well make it as easy and fuckin enjoy it so they can close the gap from beginner to badass and make that library that shows what is possible when they get out of the oubliette.
“If it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. Unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don’t do it.” – Bukowski
I'll admit, I came into this expecting another motivational piece wrapped in comforting language. It wasn't.
What landed for me was that you never tried to make struggle noble or offer easy answers. You made a simpler point: if the work matters enough, your "why" has to be strong enough to carry you through the parts that are uncomfortable, uncertain, and unfair.
I also appreciate that you never softened the message. No filter. No pandering. No false reassurance. Just a clear argument that challenged the reader to take responsibility instead of waiting for permission or perfect conditions.
That's becoming a rare voice. Strong piece.
This makes me think of all of the years I've spent creating music.
Learning scales, practicing instruments, learning sound design, learning arrangement.
ALL of it was fun! There was never any kind of suffering involved. If there was, I would've not even picked up playing piano in the first place. Sure, it was a little tedious at first because I didn’t know anything, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.
It's all a mental prison that people keep themselves in.