One day I will go to Burning Man festival, a place where you can be whoever you want to be.
It’s a time of self-expression, self-reliance and art in its myriad forms. Travel and creativity excite me and this is a place where seemingly anything can happen. It inspires the mind and the spirit.
I also feel that this week in January is difficult.
We have had the ecstasy of the holiday period, the over-indulgence. Then we had the exuberance of the new year, the resolutions, the new diet, the goal setting. The first days of the new habits and everything went well. Then something happened and we slipped. We missed a daily writing session, we ate pudding and cheese, we didn’t go to the gym. But we have to keep picking ourselves up and starting again. Each day is a new start.
So I hope this video inspires you. It’s a Burning Man rendition of Dr Seuss’ Oh, the places you’ll go, and has the ups and the downs of the journey as well as some interesting characters.
Does this inspire you again?
Image: Flickr Creative Commons Carnivillain
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE LOVE this.. as someone who went to Burning Man the first time in 2010, age 53, and then for various reasons was not able to make it in 2011, I am already saving my pennies and blocking out the calendar fr 2012. I was so inspired by my experience I came back and wrote 3 blogs on it. (check out at http://wellnesswithkate.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/creative-soul-explosion-in-the-desert/ if you like. ) It is a miraculous place and YES inspiring.
AND Thank you too Joanna – I really appreciate your offerings and have learned much from you. You even helped me to get my book (Personal Magic) out! YAY!
That’s awesome Kate, your posts make it sound pretty life-changing. And I know there is no age bias there – it seems entirely accepting of anyone. I need to put it in my diary…
Yay!! What a brilliant post!! Kudos!!
Ever since I first heard of it I’ve been fascinated by Burning Man. I still haven’t gone though.
Hi Joanna!
Burning Man truly is a one-of-a-kind experience (yes, I’ve been. In fact I know a couple of the people in the video). I once described it to someone this way: imagine if you went into every city, town and village in North America (and a few from the rest of the world), picked up the two weirdest, most creative, on-the-fringe people there, and dropped them in the middle of a desert. Now give them lots of drugs, music, and complete freedom from commercialism/profit, and you’ve got BM.
I’d like to go back, when my children are (much) older.
I hope you go one day
I’ve reached my very own “spiritual” Burning Man Festival. That video was awesome to watch and even a bit sad in a few spots. It would be interesting to attend something like this for writers. I wouldn’t be able to stand the heat of the desert, though! Maybe Alaska? On a glacier?
Recently, I’ve made a few big decisions regarding what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.
Oh, the places I’ll go… Thank you for sharing!
ooh Vivian, that sounds exciting
Love this Joanna! So many people, so many voices. Wonderful.
Burning Man holds an appeal for me, too…particularly at this dreary time of year, it’s nice to imagine sunshine in a dry, desert climate. Or at a beachfront where they serve fancy drinks with those tiny umbrellas in them. But I digress. Early January has always been a slow period for me (and I’ve been in the writing business for over 20 years, including 10 years as a business owner).
Here’s what I have found to be really effective: choose week one in January as the start time for an important project to promote your business. That can be to develop an email newsletter, write a new landing page, write a new ebook. What holds my feet to the fire is the knowledge that this is a limited-time opportunity. The phone starts ringing again in week two, so you ‘gotta make that hay while the sun is still shining. Hope this helps.