There’s a quote I’ve always loved, from Seth Godin:
“If there's somewhere you want to be in a year or ten years from now,
do something today you'll be glad you did.”
Clean. Sharp. Reassuring.
It makes me feel like I’m doing something brave just by continuing.
By staying outside the lines. By not knowing.
But lately, I’ve started asking myself something uncomfortable:
Do I love this quote because it's true?
Or because it makes me feel better about not having a plan?
Am I clinging to it as proof that I’m not lost?
Or worse, that I am lost but that lost is somehow noble?
The Artist’s path isn’t a path at all.
This life doesn’t come with a map.
There’s no performance review. No gold watch.
No manager telling you “good job” when you push through the hard stuff.
You wake up. You work.
You try to keep the voice in your head from asking too loudly:
“Does any of this matter?”
So when someone says something clever that feels true, you hold onto it.
Not because it gives you direction.
But because it reminds you that someone else felt it too.
Here’s the trap:
If all you ever do is surround yourself with quotes that confirm your choices,
you stop asking if those choices are still serving you.
Godin’s quote is about agency. But it doesn't tell me what to do when my inbox is quiet and I’m staring at a half-finished canvas, wondering if anyone gives a shit.
So I have to be honest:
Yes, I do cling to these quotes.
Yes, I use them to convince myself I’m on the right path.
And no. I still don’t really know what that path is.
But I keep showing up. I keep painting.
I keep asking the questions even when there are no answers, which I'm increasingly becoming tired of.
Maybe that’s the thing I’ll be glad I did ten years from now.
I don’t have a closing thought wrapped in a bow. Just this:
If you’re out there, doubting yourself, building quietly, questioning everything then you’re not alone. You're not broken.
You're just not finished.
And neither am I. Or am I?