Why can’t Mondays be a day of rebirth? Let’s call Mondays a day of recallibration. A day to reset our intentions. A day to psych up for what lies ahead, for what can be accomplished.
Monday is a day to set your sights not on what was, but on what could be. And if you’re coming off a kickass weekend, it’s time to get working to earn yourself another one.
Hello, Monday.
Welcome back.
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Gratitude is always a good place to start a fruitful, focused week. I’m not always so great at remembering that as often as I should. It certainly helps to write about it and read about it. So here are my 3 Things To Be Grateful For:
1. Prince is back on Spotify. I love Prince. Between Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Prince, last year was about the worst in music since John Lennon got murdered. But Bowie just won five Grammys and most of Prince’s music is now on Spotify. So there’s a tiny ray of positive in the darkness of their deaths. I just added some of my favorite Prince songs to my growing 2017 Brooklyn Mix to celebrate. Easily accessible Prince is cause for gratitude.
2. New eyewear. Last summer I lost a lens from my favorite—and only—prescription sunglasses. I haven’t had a pair of shades since. Yesterday during our leisurely walk home from our old neighborhood, Cobble Hill, Molly and I stumbled upon an eyewear shop on Atlantic that did eye exams and took walk-ins. After talking about getting my eyes checked, picking up a new prescription and finally getting some new sunglasses for months, we finally made that happen yesterday. And it feels good. Getting new eyewear and finally accomplishing a task you’ve been putting off for months are definitely cause for gratitude. What have you been putting off for months? What’s keeping you from getting it done this week?
3. Creative momentum. After waiting years for various creative projects to come to fruition only upon approval/funding/purchase from other people, we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands and create our own scripted project, which we intend to shoot later this year. It’s a web series called Green Thumbs and I’ve written all four of the first season’s 30-minute episodes. Two weeks ago I joined a Facebook group called Australians in New York and posted a message looking for any actresses interested in playing the 27-year-old Australian lead who stops in New York on her first day in America, two months into a year-long trip around the world. This past Saturday we met with our first two potential leads, a pair of smart, interesting Aussie women who loved the scripts and want to be involved. We’ve got two more meetings this Thursday, with a few more to come hopefully. (We had 27 women contact us about acting in Green Thumbs so far, plus a couple dudes looking for male roles.) Our goal is to shoot all four scripts this summer and have the episodes ready to shop around and premiere online by the end of the year. This is our goal and the wheels are in motion, thanks to an idea we love—and now a number of people, starting with my bright, supportive wife and the couple dozen Aussies who were interested in the project. Meeting good people who are excited about your ideas is cause for gratitude. “Leap and the net will appear.”
Our new 2017 goal is to write every Monday and every Friday for the rest of the year on this site. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that goals are easier to attain if there’s collaboration, cooperation and mutual support. If I’m writing things that readers are getting something from, in whatever small way—and I’m made aware that this is happening—I’m far more likely to achieve those goals and feel motivated to continue.
But I know how the world works these days. I, myself, am part of the silent majority that devours content, yet only comments on a fraction of the content we’re gobbling up. Most of the time I’m reluctant to toss in an opinion or refute what I see as an inaccuracy, mostly because I don’t want to get drawn into a long, time-chewing back-and-forth. Then if I blow off the give-and-take? I’m a ghosting asshole and the guilt kicks in. Plus, if I’m sharing how I really feel, I run the risk of people being offended or annoyed or disappointed in me. I can’t win. So I’ve shut my pie hole, mostly.
It boils down to this: By an overwhelming majority, most Americans—and most humans—are good, kind, decent people who are happy and open and full of love. But that small percentage of people who are full of hate and anger and fear, those people are the loudest people in our culture. The loud, angry minority has been drowning out the happy, quiet majority, controlling the narrative and shaping perspectives.
Gary V.’s answer?
Make. Positivity. LOUDER.
thegreatestyearofmylife.com 