Each one of us is the captain of our own ship. We set sail at birth. And if we have good parents, teachers, mentors and friends in our crew, we are more than likely to navigate a course through life utilizing the wisdom of their experience combined with our own best instincts, education and desire. If we only experience rough waters in our youth, then dangerous seas can become difficult to determine in our adulthood; after all, the eye of the storm is placid, but an inexperienced sailor might still try getting out through hurricane gusts and 30-foot waves. Fooled again. Now that I'm 55, "navigating the waters" has become my mantra. If, for fear of sinking, I leave my ship moored in the bay; I go nowhere. My sails are never filled with the wind energy of life and the potential of my very being remains untested. If, in lieu of all outward signs of danger, I set sail during a storm, my chances for success become extremely limited. Not that I won't be able to successfully get through the storm, that's always a possibility, but upon that one success, the odds are that I'll continue to launch in storms only to learn too late that patience can be a virtue.
Launching a show or a career is like sailing from port to port. The ideal situation is to leave your berth with clear maps, clear weather and the right course. Then, as is usually the case, after a few days, the sea begins to have its own ideas -- which don't include you. This is why we shouldn't take storms personally. They're storms, get over it. If you can navigate those waters, stay upright, keep the crew from mutiny, maintain the integrity of the vessel, keep your eye on the horizon and still get to your destination port; whatever treasure you claim at the end will still not be nearly as rewarding as the minute-to-minute experience of living life as a creative being "navigating the waters."
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