In a podcast* episode promoting his new film* Dan Levy said things that solidified to me my own purpose.

I am meant to write.

And it’s a truth onto which I keep circling back

And it is my worst fear that I will not take the steps to realize my dream.

My calling? My purpose?

My what-I-am-meant-to-do.

Because it is entirely, totally possible that I live a satisfactory life and die an appropriate death without ever properly publishing a single sentence.

(I do sort of wish that the world would go up in flames if I chose something other than writing; I wish for some sort of explicit sign. Quite a selfish wish, isn’t it?)

I am hesitant to weigh it all on publishing, though. My fear seems to be that I could go forever without challenging myself to write the stories I know I’m capable of writing:

To know we are capable and continue not to try.

That must be it.

Among other profound and honest points, Dan Levy stated a truth upon which I’ve been ruminating for some time: no one actually knows what they are doing.

(He followed it up with a concession that some people might but he didn’t mean it — just wanted all his bases covered. He’s thorough. He’s my hero.)

This marked the precise moment at which I knew I could trust him.

When someone seems a little bit too sure of their exclusive rights to their own expertise or, Goodness forbid, claims they’ve never been the benefactor of luck, my ears switch off. It’s almost automatic at this point.

I am not one for excessive idolization, especially not of celebrities, but I would Freaky-Friday-swap lives with Dany Levy without a second thought.

I want to write how he writes and talk how he talks and dress how he dresses and

pursue truth and joy and kindness and love as he pursues truth and joy and kindness and love

through his work.

by working to maintain the integrity of his work.

Until You Know Better

Get to the beach and buy a dragonfruit

Use colored pencils

Great Artists Steal

I just watched Levy’s first feature-length film, Good Grief on Netflix and then I listened to his episode on the podcast, Q with Tom Power and it is, at the very least, worth a close, careful watch