Daughter,

The cool thing about the internet is unless one of us deletes this, it'll always be up. Unless, obviously we're living in some sort of dystopic future where zombies slowly shuffle down the highway. And if that's the case, you'll be too busy taking head shots to read this anyway.

I wanted to write something about being a father, more directly about being a creative father who encourages you to be creative yourself. Most of "my generation" grew up being told that art was not a career. But to be fair, the generation that said that was told to pay for college by going to war. And currently an entire generation is struggling to feed their families because others wanted them to be creative, but didn't want to pay them for it. Basically what I'm saying is everybody is making it up as they go and hoping they don't fuck up their kids.

Life is stupid hard because there are no rules. People like to think there are, but let's face it, your life can change and fork into any direction at any time and it's bonkers. Knowing you like I do, you're gonna do whatever the hell you want, much like both of your parents - you're stubborn. It's a good thing, it's not the easiest path, but it's a good thing. You do you, kid. But every now and then take a step back and make sure you're doing (whatever) for the right reasons. If you happen to be looking for guidance right now though, think about this: No matter what you do, be creative in it. Up to you how broad or narrow the terminology.

The most common stories of people succeeding usually involved them taking a different approach or coming up with an idea that no one else had. That applies to legitimately any field of work or life. So yeah, be creative. Be creative no matter what! Some people rain on creatives and call us daydreamers, well I would rather dream 24/7 instead of living a nightmare of mediocrity.

As a civilization we've painted ourselves into a corner. We spent years inventing things like the internet and supercomputers only to end up being able to steam porn while we sit in gridlocked traffic, waiting to sit in a chair for eight hours (if you're lucky) to wait four days to get a paycheck in order to spend it all in three days on fun during the weekend before we start all over again on Monday. We have literally sent men to the moon and robots to Mars, but we can't wrap our minds around the concept of working to live instead of living to work.

So yeah, I'm telling you to be creative. Enjoy what you do, or be damn sure you enjoy what having a job allows you to do. Don't sit in a mansion staring at your boat and be upset that you don't have the newest iPhone yet. Don't sellout for nothing while regretting not standing up for everything. Breath the air at the top of a mountain, but if we're not careful that air will be smog soon.

BE CREATIVE even if no one lets you.

TRUST your instinct, not your head, it might not always be right but you'll learn from that.

MAKE MISTAKES, it's the only way to know for sure what's wrong and what might be right.

TRY EVERYTHING, but love sparingly.

APPRECIATE the shoulders you stand on, you never know when they'll crumble away.

LISTEN to the everyone around you, but only repeat what sticks in your head.

OPEN your heart, and never let fear close it, because if you do sometimes the door gets stuck.

RUN, but never away from something. Always towards it.

I'm telling you this not because I know what's right and what's wrong, but because I believe in you and everything you do. So take the steps on your own, but know someone is supporting you and telling you where the potholes might be.

- That guy you're raising to be a father.

More About Colin

Colin is a local author and freelance writer.

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