Extraordinary!

Trying to hold back time? Owl House, Nieu Bethesda

They say you should never meet your heros. You may be disappointed to discover that the superstar turns out to be a regular person. No silverscreen, no photoshop retouching, no special effects or cheering crowds. I have never met a big movie star, but I have met a few sports stars. Aside from a few exceptions they do look like regular folk, talk the same and are often rather shy. The exceptions being a few giants (literally speaking) in rugby, but they too were just people.

Except they have all done something special. They all took a risk and changed the ordinary into something extraordinary. It is a gamble - sticking you neck out I mean. Chop! So why did they do it. Why risk humiliation? Why give strangers the opportunity to tear into you if you fail? 

I suspect that people who take a risk are different, because they work through the fear that is hardwired into each of us. Nobody likes to make a hash of it - especially in public. But it is in public that heros are recognised. Whether on the field, on screen, at work or even online. The fear was overcome and the risk taken. That is the hurdle. From there it is out of your hands and you take the next risk. On and on. Whether you are ignored or praised is not in your control, but going onward is.

Artist's must decide on one thing above all else. Do they go on with their art or do they stop. Nothing else. Only by going on can the ordinary become extraordinary. Stopping is failure - going onward is heroic. Stopping because of what others say or do is failure - our heros decided that stopping under those circumstances would be unbearable -and it is!

Let us all resolve to do our art today and just maybe we can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.