Höre Hey, Cool Job!

I talked to absolute ledge and internet iconoclast Adam J. Kurtz AKA @ AdamJK AGES AGO but figured Cyber Monday was the perfect time to unleash this. Mostly because we both find the entire concept of Cyber Monday sort of hilarious? In any case, we get really vulnerable and honest about how success can be weirdly tinged with shame and dish about our feeeeeeeelings around money. I love this man and find tremendous comfort in his illustrations and aphorisms.

A conversation about mental health, physical health and the second coming-of-age that you experience as an artist of color. Plus, how to hone your own voice and vision as you learn how to stop emulating others. And how—deadass—Eric was almost an accountant.

A beautiful, tender conversation about artistic process, anxiety and self-fulfillment. And how emails are so stressful and IG DMs are better.

Fear has no arms and legs. It’s only when it compels you to action or inaction that it can truly bite you. This is for those days that you feel entitled to things you can’t seem to find—wisdom, insight, skill—and the self-loathing that can come from this hubris. Another reminder that creativity and recovery are not linear and accepting where you are TODAY can be a salve.

This is about those days where you build little belief systems around every action. Where you think there’s a right and wrong answer to everything from what you eat to the order in which you do things. Those fearful, superstitious days where you’re convinced that just knowing the outcome will help you move forward despite knowing in your heart that it’s a recipe for total standstill.