"All great artist draw from the same resource: the human heart"
(Angelou, 46). Courage is the pulse of any devoted artist and our main objective is to make you feel something you never felt before. Contrary,
being an artivist (artist and activist) is even more challenging but rewarding to say the least. Here we are, highly sensitive to feel your pain and super courageous to help fight your battles with our He(Art). Those duties along are superhuman!
A challenge by definition is the situation of being faced with something that needs great mental or physical effort. My biggest challenge in 2017 was "trusting others and trusting the process". I can honestly admit, a lot of my hiccups and headaches could have been prevented if I just yielded, but that's hard to tell
someone who thinks their "Super Human". One truth is, things are much easier said- than done. Artivist challenges are quite unique because we push ourselves mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically to convey a message.
It's innately in us to make you feel and think,
but what about
trust?....
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." --Ernest Hemingway
This quote by Ernest Hemingway is simple but hard for a lot of us to do. "Trusting people and the process" is more than a clever quote for me, its a mantra that I had to learn about the hard way. My most anticipated book, my memoir was
pushed back a year. I fought, fought, and fought until I kept hearing the same phrase over and over by my mentors and editors;
"This is your book but you have to trust us on this".
"Yo, don't get married to one idea! -Mk Asante
Me
and M.K. Asante, Maya Angelou mentee had a profound conversation that ended with him telling me to "take my time, follow my heart and be original".
"Why you think I called you and we're talking about this?
"You gotta trust me! His words "You gotta trust me" echoed in my consciousness because my editor, my designer, my elders all have been singing the same song and it just hit me.
"No one can outrun their destiny, just let things manifest and unfold". So this revelation has revealed itself and everyone on my team was right, despite my "Super human" complex.
Things happen for a reason and its called purpose and timing!