Deciding to Live

It’s time for everything to change. Again.
I’ve become complacent, undisciplined – and I need to come back.

I’ve read countless books on motivation, habits, procrastination, visualizing, raising energy, and anything that I thought would help. Some were crap, many got me inspired – for a couple days. I could never follow through like I used to. Something inside of me had broken, and I didn’t have the constant challenge to survive to inspire me.

That is, as strange as it sounds, what I think I miss the most. The fear. The adversity. It’s what inspired me to act on the first day I walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf alone, in full statue dress & makeup. It’s what inspired me to create an online magazine when I didn’t even know the first things about creating a website.
But it wasn’t just the adversity that inspired me. It was the love. The love I had for what I was doing, and the love of walking through the fear and feeling like I did something that mattered on the other side.

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out what it was that made me jump into things that I had no idea how to do, and when I realized the answer a few days ago, it was so simple it was absurd.

The one difference, the only thing that will ever create a lasting change in my life, and let me take my jewelry business from more or less a hobby to what I want it to become, the only thing that is different from those things and this is:
I made a decision to do them.
That’s it.

I could read thousands of books, watch hundreds of Ted talks, listen to podcasts until my ears bleed, but that is little more than mental masturbation – letting me feel like I’m doing something of value when nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just very clever procrastination.

Because I am afraid, and for some reason, I’m now letting that get in the way of doing what needs to be done. But that’s another something to look at and figure out another time.

I know that as much as I love making jewelry, there will be many times when I don’t. When I can’t find the right words for the “About” page, when I can’t think of what to write for a post on my site blog, and when I’m just not comfortable doing what needs to get done in order for this to grow. Without a solid, unwavering decision to do what it takes, I’ll never get to where I want. Never be who I want to be. Who I AM.

So it’s time for everything to change. Now.
It won’t be easy, not at first. I know that, and I’m expecting it – but eventually, as long as I show up and do the work, it will get easier. I just need to show up, and do the things that I need to, regardless of how uncomfortable I am with it or how afraid. I’ve been here before, and I know that, as long as I do what I need to, day after day, it WILL get easier.

And another thing I know: When I show up, so does the Universe – and doors that I’ve never even imagined will start opening to me.
They always have.

If you read this, please feel free to comment with what you think – and especially, call me out if you ever see me flagging.

Because there aren’t any excuses anymore. I’ll deal with the physical pain when it comes, and I’ll work through the fatigue. The time of floating is past, and it’s time to fly again.

I’ve made my decision.

 

Advertisement

Dying tends to take a lot out of you, I guess.

Early morning, finally a night that ended before the sky started to glow with the morning light. It almost wasn’t by choice – after a week of no more than three hours of sleep a couple times a day, the weariness of my body and mind revolted and actually took over my brain, making me think that 8pm was a fine time to go to sleep for the night. Under the condition that it let me wake up at 4am, we came to a compromise.

It was nice to shut my mind down, I’ll admit. to stop thinking about why I love to make jewelry so much, what my goals are, who my ideal customer is, mu core values and my “why” – all things that I need to consider, as apparently “because I like it” isn’t enough.
Of course, it is a reason, but it’s a safe one, one that doesn’t make you dig deeper inside of yourself for all the smaller reasons that make me “like it” – and without those, without digging down to the core of why I do what I do, and why I am growing more towards a particular style, it would be like Picasso answering a question of why he painted his wacky faces with something like “Well, I thought it looked cool”.

But it’s been a long time since I’ve truly questioned things like that, the strange thoughts swimming around inside of me, and why I am who I am. It’s like the time in the hospice took something away. As if the years after it have been far too placid, and all I needed to do was float along, slowly disappearing with only the memories of who I was left to fade in the minds of others as my own existence, my heart and mind, and my dreams – were slowly consumed by the grey fog of an unchallenged, dispassionate life.

It would have been easy to succumb to if I hadn’t tasted the beauty in the chaos of my life before the hospice, but now I find myself as a bird born into the wild might after it was caught, clipped and caged – every day looking out to the sky, its beautiful colors fading as it longed to again stretch its wings…

This is all over the place, this writing – but it’s necessary. With the words I’ll remember who I was, remember the chaos and passion that is still inside of me but muzzled by my own complacency.

It’s time to create my self again. To give birth to a dancing star.

To ask why, and remember the warrior inside of me.

Just sit. Be quiet. Think.

Though I don’t do it as much as I used to or would like to now, it is still one of the things I relish most in life – having the time to do just that – or making the time.
But admittedly, as much as I love it, it’s not something that comes easily to me, and never has. My mind just simply doesn’t work like that. My thoughts don’t organize themselves into something that I can easily follow or make sense of, and my head seems to enjoy dancing around from one thought to the next, as if they were in that lottery-ball machine, bouncing around & randomly shooting up the tube into my awareness.

Sometimes I can let them go – just a passing thought of little consequence, or something that I can figure out or decide upon right then and there, gathering a bit of logic & other things I may have learned along the way – but then there are others, like the one I only just had – and the only way to play it out in my head so that it makes sense – is to write. It’s the way it’s always been for me.

Lately I’ve had a number of people comment on how much better I’ve been looking – how much healthier. Enough people to make me wonder why, and try to figure out if anything has changed, or maybe they just haven’t seen me in a while. Probably a mixture of both, but answering it so easily with absence – well, that’s not going anywhere. That won’t help anything or get me thinking about a path of possible growth, something that has happened that I can continue… But if anything has changed? Now that could be interesting – so that’s what I went with, as well as I could inside of my head. And I found an answer.

I’m creating again. I have a purpose again. I’m doing something I love, and best of all – making people happy.

And, in return, my health has improved, I feel happier, and with my chainmaille jewelry business, there seems to be, as long as I don’t let myself procrastinate it all away or find a place where I’m “okay” but not where I want to be and call it good enough – there is almost unlimited growth potential. I’ve even figured out a way to move beyond the terror of not doing every little thing myself.

I’ve found, however, that it’s fragile. I have such a fucking frustrating propensity to procrastinate, to put things off with some of the best excuses imaginable, that what I need to do doesn’t get done – and I’m only happy when it does.

I need to remember that. I’m only happy when things are moving forward, when I’m growing, when I’m stepping out of comfort into something I’m terrified of doing –  because that’s the only place I find passion. Only then do my eyes shine the way they used to, and only then… only then, I believe, does my mind use the power it has to heal my body, because it has a reason to.

Why else would it have been that I was mostly fine – able to walk the 3/4 mile to the cafe from my motorhome to work on my magazine every day for months – and then within the first week of being in the hospice with nothing to do, my body decides to completely shut down?

There’s something in that – and now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to get my ass in gear and get to work. I have a business that I love to make grow, and a life to continue to live.

Into the Storm

Sitting in my bed, comforter pulled up to my waist, warm and… not happy, not blue, but if I had to think about it (and it seems I need to now that I wrote that) – feeling… what? Perhaps something of a positive indifference, if that makes any sense.

Grey skies, scattered rain & the wind howling through my windows which I intentionally leave just a crack open for exactly that reason. I like the feeling of safety & warmth inside, the storm not able to affect my life, as much as it beats against the barriers that surround me.

But I also miss the exquisite storm, the way my blood pulsed feverishly, passionately through my veins feeding off of the uncertainty of every day. I miss the directionless path, trusting that it would take me where I needed to be and it always did. I miss the way the words would rip themselves out of me, tearing me apart & puttin me back together like a puzzle that always found a place for the extra pieces.

I miss the feeling of the feeling of the road under my wheels.
I miss the fever.
I miss the storm I once was.

The wind screams & moans through my windows, calling me, summoning me.

It’s time to join it.

The Treasures Within

It’s the mornings that I like the most these days, at least when I have the energy to find them, to keep my eyes open regardless of how little I’ve slept & live in them. The dim grey light from my bedside windows, the yellow light of my table lamp, the sublime quiet in a world that is so otherwise noisy & obtrusive.
I feel the cold of the air on my chest and arms, the rest of my body tucked tightly & warmly beneath my comforter, the weight of Ruby snuggling up to me for warmth.

Coffee heated up from the day before, I take a few moments to read or think and let my mind wake up just enough. It’s these times where I feel the most grateful for this life, even as odd as it is these days.

I find that in many ways writing this book, my memoir, is toxic to my current happiness if I let it be – I read and remember and write the adventures of a vagabond, a traveller with a heart so light I could feel it glowing inside of my chest, a heart so light it flew. I read and remember and write of love, of pain, of the joy of being untethered, free.
I wonder how a person avoids comparing their life to a more glorious one they themselves have lived, and find no answer to placate me – but we must keep on going, moving forward. That is the only way – but moving forward by writing of my past puts a different twist on it, makes it ever so much more difficult, and it comes down to forcing myself to get through every single word, every sentence, every remembered feeling.
Then there are the times where I simply need to stop. I don’t know what bothers me more – writing my past, or not being able to.

But we must go on, move forward – even as much as it sometimes hurts, even as confusing and frustrating as it sometimes can be…

And godsdamn it, I need to take Ruby out. Back in a few minutes…

* * *

I feel at times – frequently – that I’m not as creative as I once was. That I don’t have the spark in my soul that I had, that the passion that burned in my heart for life and living and creating and loving every single little fucking thing about this extraordinary existence has fallen away over the years, and now the fire has become only glowing embers and the ghostly smoke of yesterdays.
And the more I think about this – or better said, the more I write about this, the more I step away from the excuses. I begin to realize the level of bullshit I’ve had to tell myself, convince myself of, simply to hide one simple & obvious thing: I’m afraid.
I’m afraid that I don’t have anything to give anymore, I’m afraid that no one will hear me or care. Worst of all, I’m afraid that I’ve forgotten the words to sing this life, the steps to dance with it.
In this understanding I have a place to start, a new strength to use against it. Of course we will be afraid – it’s a part of life, a healthy one – but that doesn’t mean we need to let our fear control us.
We just need to make room for it, to invite it along for the ride but refuse to give it the wheel because godsdamn it, this is OUR trip, our life, our love and passion and need, the fire that does not go out – we just need to remember to breathe on it once in a while. We need to remember to breathe.

Years ago, perhaps when I was 16, I found a small book in a stationery shop that caught my eye – “Inevitable Papers”, by Cooper Edens. I bought it with the last of my money and carried it around for years, and though the entire book is wonderful, it was the last line that was burned into my heart. It was the last line that, quite likely, made me into who I am today: “And how long have you been the language of a story that could be true?”

This is my story. Our stories, and each moment is an opportunity to make them into what we want them to be. We can be afraid, but our courage needs to be stronger, bigger, more needy and persistent so that we don’t have the time to allow or fears to take over and stop us from being who we are.

We need to have the courage to bring forth into this world all the hidden treasures within us. They are there. They are waiting.
We just need the courage to let them sing.

Now on my second cup of coffee, the sun melts away the grey morning light – and until it becomes habit again, I make a conscious and effective effort to let my courage shine through the fear.

It’s a good morning.

Still somewhere inside.

I constructed a monotone voice, did my best to empty my heart. As I waited, I practiced. Tried to center. This time he wouldn’t get me. I wouldn’t let myself go. This time I wouldn’t.
I thought I was prepared. Hell, shutting off was the first thing I had ever learned. I was a quiet baby, they were worried I was “slow” because I didn’t cry. I know this game, written into my heart when they took me from her arms after only 15 minutes with my Mother… but that’s not what this is about.

A serious, somewhat grim look on his face as he comes in. I’m somewhat surprised he doesn’t even acknowledge being three hours late, but easily let it go. Running through my head is that this is the single person that can change my life and for now every thought swims around what I can do to convince him to do this surgery, to make me whole again, to stop the pain both outside and in my heart.

On the table he looks at it again, prying, playing, doing what I do al the time – tucking my intestines back inside of me and wishing they stayed there. It doesn’t work, I know without even looking.

Sitting back up we start talking, a subtle but sincere look of concern on his face as he again explains all that could go wrong and why. I notice that this time there are more reasons. Maybe he prepared.

“Surgeons try not to be executioners.”

“But I’m already dead. This is the one thing that could give me my life back.”

At least, that’s what I tried to say. In the first few words out of my mouth I felt my heart claw its way into my throat, blocking all coherent speech. Everything I wanted to say. I pause for a few seconds, try to talk again. Try to say what I’m feeling. I am frustrated, dismayed that I can’t control myself. Surprised that I hid this pain so fucking well that even I didn’t realize how deep it went, how much stronger than me it is.

I kept trying to talk, to say something that didn’t make me sound completely irrational & controlled by emotion. I kept failing.

But something must have worked. He told me that he would check with a colleague of his at UCSF, a hospital that is one of the best transplant hospitals in the country & much better equipped to perform the surgery. See what he says.

“I’m not saying no.”

Twice he said this, but all I could hear was how far away it was from “yes”.

 

As much as I had hoped to be able to talk, to argue my point rationally, and as much as I had gone over every point in my mind that I needed to bring up to him, I knew even if everything went perfectly he would still see me more as a series of tests and paperwork than as someone who depends on this surgery to get his life back. It’s through no fault of his. We have only met briefly three times, and his job is to judge by the evidence, not emotion.

Knowing this, I woke early yesterday to try to write something that might make him understand the person behind all the tests that scream to his rational mind that I have less than a 1 in 4 chance of living through this – that I am far more than a statistic.

This, along with some words from friends that follow, is what I wrote:

Dear Dr. Mackersie,
Since even before I made another appointment with you last month, I’ve been trying to figure out what to say when we met again. Though I’ve thought of many things, I still have no idea what will actually come out of my mouth. I’ve never felt talking has been one of my strengths – but writing has, so today I give you this in addition to all the emotional blather that I’ll try to say.

When I was only 17 years old, I received a call telling me that I was HIV+. As I’m sure you remember this was at a time when nearly all people who contracted the virus were dead within an average of 18 months.

From that moment on, I lived my life expecting to get sick and die at any time, knowing that it was more than likely that I would. I figured that I would enjoy life while I could, and any future I thought of having – any goals, dreams, school, or anything that would take longer than a year was out of the question. I erased any hope of one day becoming something more, having no choice that I saw but to find a thin contentment in floating from job to job, only working to be able to eat & enjoy whatever time I had left. I eventually made my peace with dying very young.

After over a decade had passed without any health issues, I realized something was wrong – but it seemed too late to do anything about it. It’s difficult to simply change the thinking that you will die any day into understanding the possibility that you might live.

Fast forward to 2004. I was laid off from a job, and at that point decided to find out what would happen if I actually lived a life that I wanted – a life that might mean something, a life that for the first time might have value – not only to me, but perhaps others as well.

It wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I refused to give up – and eventually found myself not only loving the life I had fought so hard to create, but for the first time ever, truly loving myself.

Had I not experienced that incredible life, I have little doubt that I would have given up like so many other people in the hospice. There were two primary things that kept me fighting so hard: finding my Birth Mother who I had been searching for most of my adult life, and returning to become the person I loved again – performing, sharing myself, inspiring & making others happy. There is no greater gift I had ever been able to give, and it is, literally, what I lived for.

The way you are able to improve people’s lives with your hands & knowledge, that’s what I did with my dreams, creativity, & body.
Now imagine if (gods forbid) there was an accident, and your hands were hurt. There was an experimental operation that you could have performed, but it was risky – it would either restore them so they were of use again & you could continue helping & saving others, or they would be completely dead & useless at the end of your arms.
What would you choose to do?

Many years ago I made complete peace inside my heart with death, and that holds strong to this day. That, however, was a physical death. I didn’t count on a situation that would eventually blacken my spirit & heart, and over the past few years, gradually but steadily, that is what has been happening to me. The immense & beautiful love for life that I had is slowly being extinguished, as I can’t live the life I fell in love with anymore – or be that person.

A couple days ago I asked if there was anyone willing to write a few words to you so you might see how important this is to me in case I didn’t get it right. A couple of old friends wrote the words below.

I need to get my ass in gear now if I want to make it to our appointment on time, so I can’t read over what I’ve written – but please take it for what it’s worth, and I trust that you will hopefully understand how much this means to me – and the power you have to change my life entirely.

Thank you for reading.
With respect, hope, and a bit of groveling,
~ Casey Porter

~ ~ ~

Hello…
My name is Carolyn Jepsen and I am here to write about Casey Porter.  I know that you and he are meeting soon to discuss surgery and I would like to say a few words on Casey’s behalf.

Truthfully, I am not quite sure where to begin this note.  I cannot imagine the decision that sits with each one of you and do not envy either position.  I can only tell you what I know, which is that I trust Casey.  I trust his instinct, I trust his strength and his will.  I trust his creativity and his unbelievable capacity to fight.  Casey is someone who knows better than to live as fully and beautifully as possible.

I met him back in 2004, oh-so-briefly, as he spearheaded the performance end of a Dresden Dolls DVD shoot.  He was vibrant and full – I had never met such a force in my entire life.  A professional artist wrangler, stilt walker, fire-breather…simply put, an outrageous tornado of art and joy.  His example stayed with me and remains to this day.

In the last few months, I have read and listened to Casey’s words as he has detailed a sort of spiritual and creative death.  For an energy such as his, there could be nothing worse.

As I’m sure you already know, the miracle of Casey is that he lived through death.  He walked out of that hospice on his own two feet, then went out into the world to keep right on living vibrantly, passionately and fully.  He healed himself as he lives – on his own terms.

I don’t know the odds that this surgery holds, but like I said earlier, I do know that I trust Casey.   I believe him when he says that he understands the potential consequences.  I believe him when he says that, for him, this is more than worth the risk.  He sees this surgery as his best shot at reconnecting to his heart and spirit – to the self that he fought so hard to fall in love with.  I believe he has earned that shot and as you consider whether or not to give it to him, I hope that you will consider this: Casey Porter knows what to do with a chance at a greater life.  He won’t waste it.

Thank you.

~ ~ ~

Dear (Dr, Mackersie),

I understand your hesitation with my brother’s surgery and the complications that may arise. I work as a surgical tech for LAC+USC trauma and I know the risks. But this beautiful man has been on deaths door and spit in its face. He has the miraculous spirit that will not give up, and that is why it’s been so painful for me to read his posts over the past year, watching his spirit fade. Casey is strong and tenacious, and I know you can work miracles to vastly improve his quality of life.
Please. I believe in him, and you.

Warmly,
Cat Colegrove

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In writing this, I’ve come to an understanding. A remembering, so to speak.
Since I started walking this life of dreams, I have never let anything get in my way. I never let anything stop me.

Though the circumstances are different, I need to remember that through it all, and as well as I may hide it – I’m still that person who will never quit.

 

Passion

There is a certain point where security becomes confinement. A point where freedom feels too open-ended & vast.

But in between these is a small line that we do our best to balance on, arms out and leaning from side to side That is what we – the dreamers, artists, writers; those who thrill on fulfilling the potential that we have been blessed with – struggle to maintain.

We must continue to tap into our inner strength, to inhale the beauty of life until our hearts nearly explode in wonder and amazement & love, to squeeze every drop out of what we have to give to the world so that we feel our lives were not lived in vain.

That, in the end, we made a difference.