On Paying the Price

Are you focusing on the dream while avoiding the price tag attached?

"The way to get anything you want in life is to find out the price, and pay it."

— Scott Adams

I love that quote.

Simple words, but they cut to the heart of what holds many of us back in our creative lives. We dream of writing that book, launching that project, mastering our craft - but we often focus on the dream while avoiding the price tag attached.

That price isn't always measured in hours or dollars. Sometimes it's measured in the emotional courage it takes to say: "I'm working now. I'll be with you in three hours."

Murakami once said something that haunts me: "The price for being an individual is emotional pain." As artists, we feel this acutely. Every "no" to a lunch invitation, every early morning alarm while the house sleeps, every boundary we draw around our creative time - these moments come with an emotional cost.

I remember being 11 years old, declaring with absolute certainty that I would become an illustrator. At 38, I realized that dream was still waiting, not because I lacked talent or opportunity, but because I hadn't fully accepted the price of pursuing it with the seriousness it deserved.

Each decade that passes reshapes the price tag. Time becomes more precious, the stakes grow higher. Our future selves are waiting, watching to see if we'll finally pay what our dreams cost.

But here's what I've learned: The price never goes down, but our capacity to pay it grows with every small act of creative courage. Every time we protect our work time, every time we choose our art over distraction, we're building that capacity.

Ten minutes of focus is building capacity.

The world needs what only you can create.

But it won't make space for it - that's your job. The price is clear: protected time, focused energy, emotional fortitude. The question is: Are you ready to pay it?

TEN MINUTE ARTIST PROMPT

Draw an Arm Chair

This has nothing to do with today’s meditation, or has it? Maybe you can add some of your own words to the drawing to give it some meaning. Or if you’re not into writing, you can draw the armchair over and over again.

In the chat, go ahead and share your drawings and appreciate what each other has done!

Creative Finds:

• Helen Stephens
  Teaches you how to slow down time! (In a picturebooks)

• Lewis O’Brien
  book summaries are better than the books themselves!

• I found a picture of the kind of things you might find in my mom’s stationery shop — yes she does ship internationally.

  

  PS: I wrote a new intro to this thing… Again!