Everybody else is doing it, why cant we?
photo //
Fox 5 New York
Earlier this week, climbers Angelina Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov scaled the outside of the Empire State Building. Nearly 1,500 feet above New York City, they unfurled a banner that read:
"WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE BEATS THE LOVE OF POWER, THE WORLD KNOWS PEACE."
Then, in one of the most surreal moments of the day, Ivan got down on one knee and proposed.
Most people would call the idea crazy. They could have talked themselves out of it. Their friends could have talked them out of it. They could have decided it wasn't worth the risk, the criticism, or the possibility of looking ridiculous.
Instead, one person had an idea, and the other believed in it enough to climb 1,500 feet together.
And because two people believed an idea was worth carrying to the top, thousands of photographers, artists, writers, designers, and complete strangers are now carrying it even further. That's how ideas spread. One act inspires another, and another, until it no longer belongs to the people who started it.
Sometimes, though, the people who want to see you fail are the ones closest to you.
It's one of the hardest lessons to learn because we spend so much of our lives believing support is supposed to come from the people who know us best. We imagine they'll be the first to celebrate us, the first to share our work, the first to believe in us before anyone else does.
The silence from people you expected to cheer the loudest can be deafening. The lack of support feels personal because it is personal. It's difficult not to wonder whether you're asking too much, dreaming too big, or simply wasting your time. But then, one day, a complete stranger buys your shirt. Someone across the world saves your article. A song recommendation at the end of a journal becomes exactly what someone needed to hear that day.
Someone you've never met sends you a message saying, "I needed this." And suddenly you're reminded that the people you were making it for were never the doubters standing beside you. They were the people you hadn't met yet or the people you'll never meet.
You don't always get to choose whose life your work reaches. So do it anyway. Write the article, design the shirt, launch the business, start the nonprofit, paint the mural, take the photograph, post the video. Climb your Empire State building.
Every piece of art, every story, every photograph, every brand, every conversation has the ability to travel further than you ever will.
The people closest to you may never understand what you're building. That's okay. The work was never meant for everyone...it was meant for the people who needed it.
So if you're creating something that matters to you, do it anyway. Someone you've never met is waiting for it.
How were feeling today
Why this song?
Every journal ends with a song because stories aren't only meant to be read. Sometimes you need to hear them too. This journal isn't about climbing the Empire State Building.
It's about believing in something enough to carry it to the top, even if people call you crazy along the way. Every company, movement, photograph, nonprofit, and piece of art starts with someone willing to risk looking foolish before anyone else sees the vision.
Its also a humble reminder of perspective, legacy, and how quickly power fades. Create because you believe in it, regardless who’s watching, who cheers for you, or what comes of it.
Lyrics worth noting
“Once you’d gone, there was never an honest word, and that was when I ruled the world.”
do with that as you may.
— see you offline.