Discipline

Tell me if this sounds familiar: ever since my early teen years I had a bit of a pattern in how I tackled different skills. I would dedicate myself night and day to learning a thing until I could do it competently. And inevitably I'd crash and burn out. Then I read a book that changed my life.

Reading "Mastery" by George Leonard was an enormous wake-up call to me. So many times I'd gone down the route of learning an art. Then the moment I hit that first snag of a plateau my drive and passion would dissipate and I'd move onto the next thing.

"Mastery" changed my perspective and helped me realize that the plateau wasn't the enemy--my own attitude was. Once I understood this, the long road became a much easier course and I discovered that the practice itself was the reward rather than the things I learned while doing it.

Humility

Taking dance classes as an adult is one of the hardest things I've ever done. I thought I was going to get through it with pure stubborn grit. I was frequently trying way too hard and it was obvious to many people in the room, but not to me.

There was a point during rehearsals for my second dance concert I performed in where the director gave a note that I realized with a start was for me. I'd prided myself on my dedication and being the performer onstage who would best embody the director's vision. What I discovered in that moment was that I was not the star of this or any show--I was one of a half dozen performers whose jobs it was to swallow our egos and our pride and be what the director needed us to be.

On a related note, I've met lots of people through it that want to be in charge because they enjoy the power or they think they have all the right ideas. Whenever I've encountered these attitudes I've responded with this simple lesson: leadership is an act of service. When that thought makes a person uncomfortable, I gently suggest they may want to rethink their reasons for wanting to be in charge.

Support

I went through a very dark time last fall. I had a deep crisis of faith as to why I was producing content, why I was a flow artist, and what my future actually looked like. At one point I began interviewing for jobs and it was only the fact that I felt an obligation to those supporting me on Patreon that I didn't just quit outright.

Then on a lark I posted a poi combo for my viewers to learn and share. I can't remember what inspired it but I remember being shocked by the positive response to it.

Through those responses I discovered people all over the world who were learning how to spin thanks to the content I was producing. People in countries I'd never visit but who got to escape many of the difficulties of their everyday lives through spinning.

It was through interacting with these people that I discovered the thing that made me rededicate myself to this career: the content that I was producing was supporting them in their own journeys whether that be in self-healing, achievement, or independence. Those wonderful people are the reason I'm still creating content right now.

I've been very fortunate to have these lessons delivered to me in timely moments. And I hope you all are as fortunate as well. Thank you all for your continued inspiration.