Dear Jessica Brennan,
Recently I agreed to create a video for our family business Jeans ‘n Classics. It came about like this:
Dad: Would you like another glass of wine?
Me: Sure, thanks!
Dad: Can you make a little video for me this weekend?
Me: Sure, no problem.
Dad: Thanks (snickering evilly bottle in hand)
The little video ended up being an editing job with as many as 60 active tracks of video at a time, and I was a beginner.
I’m a beginner no more.
I tell you this little video tale because something that I noticed as I was working with the various video clips sent by 33 people, is that each of the snippets could have been its own project. The quality of the performance was stellar, and so deciding what stayed and what got cut, was the biggest part of the job. I could have written this blog about the beauty found in collaboration, because that was very true of this project, but instead I want to focus on how the video project was less about creating and more about revealing.
In order to create the finished product; to do the job well, a lot of really great footage ended up on the floor. So, I was thinking, as I do. What really great parts of my life could I trim to make room for the even better to emerge? What great things could shrink a little to allow more of better-me to be revealed?
And I sat back and looked at my life like a big video project with loads of great tracks that could stand on their own when needed; a beautiful solo piece – or meld with other tracks of my life that work better as a lively collage than as a line drawing. More beautiful as a rich symphony than as a single note.
I looked at practical things like my garden, domicile and my closet, as well as more philosophical things like my big self-expectations, multi-tasking mania (sometimes called blinders), and my often debilitatingly narrow view of perfection. A snip here, and a trim there, with a fade and slo-mo, and guess what? Life changes. Perspective changes. Richer colours begin to emerge.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that just by trimming the fat on something great, you can make obvious another part of your life that makes it richer, more glorious and fun?
I love fun.
Love,
Mum xo
