Here is Your Permission Slip

Last week I ordered HBO for the sole purpose of watching the movie Get Out. I was not disappointed. I’m not a horror movie person but I took the risk because I knew I needed to see this movie.
 
Because, here’s how it looks on paper:
 
Comedy Central guy decides to write and direct a horror movie that's also an examination of contemporary race relations in America. Movie breaks records, grosses more than $250 million on a $4.5 million budget, wins all kinds of awards. Minds are blown.
 
This story is kind of amazing. And the most amazing part, for me, is the moment where Jordan Peele won the Academy Award (making history in the process). Here is the part of his speech that got me:
 
I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible. I thought it wasn’t going to work. I thought no one would ever make this movie. But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it.
 
I don’t know what it’s like to be one thousandth as talented as Jordan Peele. I don’t know what it’s like to write a movie. But I do know what it’s like to have something that you want to put into the world. Something that you keep giving up on and coming back to. Something that gives you faith in your purpose but also scares the crap out of you.  
 
I hid from my something for years, until I finally learned that time is not infinite and hiding is a luxury not currently in my life budget. So I vowed to work on it every day for 30 minutes, even though I was busy starting a business and running a household.
 
I vowed to show up, because that’s really all it takes.
 
Can I tell you something? I have to talk myself into showing up every single time I sit down to work on it. Every. Single. Time. There is not a morning where I am looking forward to working on it. There is no excuse I have not tried on myself.

I didn’t sleep well last night.
I’m too busy.
I have too many emails to look at.
I’m not feeling creative today.
I’ll do it tomorrow.
 
But tomorrow is a lie. Tomorrow is a cop out. Tomorrow is a bill of goods. If I always count on tomorrow, my something will give up on me and go find someone else to inspire.
 
So I show up, and miracles happen. And when I say miracles, I am not talking about the quality of what I’m producing, AT ALL. I know damn well that I ain’t no Nabokov.

I’m talking about the miracle of an idea turning into something real. The miracle of having just enough faith to try something that scares me. The miracle of making something instead of just talking about making something.
 
For some people, making things is as natural as breathing – it’s just what they do. I have always lived in secret awe of those people. Me? I’m not one of those people. It took me 38 years to get the courage to show up for the one project that, as the kids say, “gives me life.”
 
So what took me so long?

I was waiting for permission - something I didn’t even realize I was doing until Elizabeth Gilbert told me. Yeah, I’m basically BFFs with the author of Eat, Pray, Love.
 
Okay, I may be exaggerating. I’ve actually never met her, but I did read her book Big Magic, and I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone with a beating heart.  
 
Here’s the deal: I’m a good girl, a rule follower, a black or white, wrong or right person. So, like a good girl, I was sitting around waiting for someone to give me permission to do this thing that was in my heart.
 
Elizabeth Gilbert gave me permission in Big Magic, and, while I am not exactly a best-selling author, or an author at all (yet?!) I give you permission.
 
I, Grace Kennedy, give you, person with a beating heart, permission to turn your idea into something real.
 
You are surrounded by people who are rooting for you. We got you. We are rallying around you, and we would really love to see this idea of yours. Because we know that your beating heart is the only beating heart that can do this one thing. So we’re not just giving you permission -  we’re counting on you to put your idea into the world.
 
And we can’t wait to hear your acceptance speech.