Give a Damn

Mania feels amazing and chaotic. I never bothered to give mania a label – I just considered it to be my second gear. overdrive. I can accomplish more than most people in half the time, if I want to. More often though, I procrastinate and do a half-assed job. When I care, when I’m interested, that’s when mania comes in. It is my muse, my inspiration, my creative energy. I can find that energy by focusing intensely on a topic or project, and then I can’t stop at will. Often times it lasts a day or so. My “episode” lasted nearly a month though. Now that is intense! I didn’t sleep or eat for nearly a week and I couldn’t get outside of my head, of my thoughts.

Mania happened when I was blogging. I couldn’t control myself, I’d write four blog posts a day, and I loved it. It just kept flowing, it was unstoppable. I have done the same thing at work, with creative insights and amazing energy behind them. I was called tenacious, driven, ambitious…and mean. I would fight for my vision with such conviction that people feared saying no to me. Passion fuels the world, and when you have so much passion that you can’t even hear “no” people can get intimidated. Think about it though – all great leaders had that kind of vision and passion. It seems necessary when you have brilliant ideas and big agendas. You have to think big and you have to be willing to fight for it. I have long fought for creative ideas in the workplace, but for the first time I am willing to fight for me. For my heart. For my words.

I think it is so important to have free speech and open discussion around things that matter. Ironically, politics and religion are far too often not discussed. People are actually told NOT to talk about the very issues that matter. It would be rude they say. Don’t offend anyone. Be polite.

Well, I say – stop being polite. Discuss the shit that matters because if we don’t, we will stay stagnant. No new ideas. No questioning authority. No rocking the boat. Fuck that.

We need to discuss important issues like religion, god, politics, mental health. The very things people fear discussing, those are the issues I want to discuss. It matters. It matters an awful lot. If we don’t talk about what is in our heart, we are doing a disservice to humanity and to human history. People died for the right to speak freely. So do it! Offend someone today. Start an impolite conversation. Speak you mind and your heart. Say what matters. Go! Do!