Patti Smith, Amsterdam 1976: Gijsbert Hanekroot Image from: https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/patti-smith-because-the-night-40th-anniversary-oral-history-8462017/

The stuff that really gets to you comes from a place of pure connection, doesn’t it?

You’re a writer. An artist. A musician. Ready to do your work.

You’re on the edge of that place. That place.

Not in your head but in your body.

About to make something happen.

It’s scary. Magnificent.

The anticipation.

But then…

Then…

Doubt.

What if….?

What if this? What if that?

What if… you can’t do it?

And then…

Excitement turns to anxiety.

You can’t sit with the feeling.

You feel compelled to take the edge off…

And now you find yourself in displacement territory. Surfing, scrolling, whatevering…until…

What happened?

Further and further away you go, waving goodbye to the land where the magic happens.

Ah, fuck!

What were you working on? What was the point?

Come back, come back!

Do you want to be numb?

Weren’t you only just fired up and ready?

You know the feeling.

That feeling.

“Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe” Patti cries out in Because the night?

Creativity is like rage – if repeatedly thwarted – it will suck the life right out of you.

“..With doubt the vicious circle turns and burns…”

So how about if you didn’t. Not this time.

What did you mean your audience to feel when you started this work? Do you even feel it yourself?

Find the song that bypasses your fretful mind and catapults you into visceral connection.

Breathe. Listen.