Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you donʼt make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.
This metaphorical Mount Everest doesnʼt have to manifest itself as “Art.” For some people,
yes, it might be a novel or a painting. But Art is just one path up the mountain, one of many.
With others, the path may be something more prosaic. Making a million dollars, raising a
family, owning the most Burger King franchises in the Tri-State area, building some crazy
over-sized model airplane, the list has no end.
Whatever. Letʼs talk about you now. Your mountain. Your private Mount Everest. Yes, that one.
Exactly.
Letʼs say you never climb it. Do you have a problem with that? Can you just say to yourself,
“Never mind, I never really wanted it anyway,” and take up stamp-collecting instead?
Well, you could try. But I wouldnʼt believe you. I think itʼs not okay for you never to try to
climb it. And I think you agree with me. Otherwise, you wouldnʼt have read this far
So it looks like youʼre going to have to climb the frickinʼ mountain. Deal with it.
My advice? You donʼt need my advice. You really donʼt. The biggest piece of advice I could
give anyone would be this:
“Admit that your own private Mount Everest exists. That is half the battle.”
And youʼve already done that. You really have. Otherwise, again, you wouldnʼt have read this far. Rock on.
ps: Taken from How To Be Creative by Hugh Macleod. I started reading it today itself and trust me I am bowled over by it. Thanks a ton to Goli and Alistair for pointing out about this article. Do visit http://gapingvoid.com to know more about Hugh.
Reinventing myself, once again
4 years ago
5 comments:
wow! that book sounds interesting! will wait to see ur review for the book after u finished reading it!
@nirek: Trust me you don't need to wait that long. Just go and download it. It is free for everyone and it is worth each second you put into it.
Moreover a reading of first few ideas in the book tells me that it is one article where you will learn new things everytime you read it.
Most importantly, one needs to think about it rather than just read it like a novel or self-help book.
So just go for it. Link is there in place.
I even have this desire to climb the real Mt Everest one day... lets see :-)
one Mt Everest at a time I say :-)
@alistair:
Thank god you didn't say you desired to run there. Yes, I would agree to one Mt Everest at a time.
I can see the base camp for my everest right now. Hoping beyonf those clouds spread the same life which I have been dreaming of.
a very good one...i will read it up..been saving it for a rainy day but guess i need my dose too..
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