My sister said many years ago, “Why would you break up with one partner just to find a whole host of new problems with another?” Then we both looked at each other and said, “Exactly.”
New problems are so much better than old problems. New problems are more work but they are more exciting, more alive, more intriguing. Our brains wake up and say, “Wow, what to do about this one?”
We need our patterns to make progress in a given direction. Walking is very repetitive, but we have to do the same motion over and over again to get anywhere. But eventually, we got to where we were trying to go. Usually, it isn’t quite what we expected. Usually, it's a bit disappointing in one way or another. Since we have been walking in that direction for such a long time, we may forget that we can try a different direction and find new problems to work on. If we change direction or aim somewhere else, we might be excited to learn that the problems are new too.
I am doing this in my art practice right now. I am aiming toward a new city and a new creative culture. I have been committed to San Francisco since I arrived in 1997. I have toured nationally and internationally but I have been married to San Francisco as my home base and as the cultural environment that was birthing my vision as the combustion point between art, science, and technology. Now I am curious about LA and its creative culture. Now I am interested in art with commercial potential and broader audience appeal. Art thrives where there are resources. This isn’t surprising. Gardens grow best with an excess of water, sun, and rich soil. Art is a living thing.
I don’t know how any of these opportunities will arise. I don’t know how I will get anywhere. But opening my mind in that direction, noticing the attraction, means that I will notice opportunities and invest more of my precious time and energy to those opportunities. The rest is a mystery unfolding.
We are fed narratives about utopia and the promised land where all of our problems disappear and everything is better. In some ways these are true. I have reached the promised land in my home. I LOVE my home life. Every morning I am grateful. And it contains a steady stream of problems to be solved.
I wonder what problems await if I succeed at producing creative content in LA. What new sexy problems will I get dirty with there?
Psychedelics have been shown to increase conviction and decrease fear of risk. These are two qualities necessary for changing your problems. Let's locate some new problems.