Enjoy the Climb

In Neil Gaiman’s, “Make Good Art” speech, he talked about his goal of becoming an artist who could make a living from his art making great books and comics.

He relived, that early on in his journey, making a living from his words seemed like … ‘A MOUNTAIN … A distant mountain.’ He described the experience that we all have when we are exploring new terrain for the first time and wondered how he would ever get to the top of that mountain.

He knew that if he kept walking toward the mountain it would be alright. He just had to keep walking towards the mountain and to ensure that he didn’t turn his back on it. This meant that all of his choices had one criteria. 

“Will it get me closer to the top of the mountain?” If it did he stepped. If it didn’t, he’d stop and work out his next step.   

All of the young people at Goat Track have a different dream when they arrive for their first session. For some of them the top of the mountain is to feel confident, for others it is to make some new friends, for others it is to master their artistic craft like Neil Gaiman has done. 

To each of them, we say, strap on your backpack, face the mountain and take a step in the right direction. Any step in the right direction. No matter how big or small, no matter how graceful or awkward. There’s no one right way to scale the mountain. The most important thing is that you don’t shy away and turn your back on the challenge. Well chosen steps in the right direction are always progress. 

In the immortal words, of the Oracle of our times, (I refer of-course to  Miley Cyrus) “It’s all about the climb”. Enjoy the Climb! 

- Andrew ’Aiming for Altitude’ Wright   

P.S If you want to read Neil Gaiman’s ‘Make Good Art’ speech here’s a link.
P.P.S If you want to hear Miley Cyrus sing The Climb here’s a link. 
P.P.P.S If you want to sing it with me. Let’s arrange a Karaoke Night.