It’s February 1st, and we’re well past the cut-off for giving up on new year resolutions. If you’re still chugging along, congratulations! You made it!
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of interviewing a performer from across the Atlantic Ocean. His name is Carl Newman, and he was a Batsuit movement double for Michael Keaton in Batman (1989). As with most of the interviews I’ve conducted for TheBatmanUniverse podcast, it was such a fun, lively conversation. As someone who loves to write, I get a thrill out of chatting with other creators, performers, artists, etc. There’s a lot of prep and research involved in each interview, but the act of interviewing recharges me. It’s inspiring to chat with people out there bringing beauty to this world of ours.
But I’m not here to just gab about how great my other project is. No, I have a reason for bringing this up—
In the middle of our conversation, the master of the Batsuit quick-turn said something that struck a chord with me and has been simmering with me all day. While talking about his accomplishments and adventures, he stressed this idea of just trusting in himself and “going for it.” As his story illustrated, talking about how he was hired to bring his ballet background to Pinewood Studios for Batman, sometimes we’re in the right place at the right time. Sometimes life just ebbs and flows in directions that we never see coming. Opportunities arise, and we do the best we can to accept them (or not). The only throughline we can control is ourselves — how we feel, how we conduct ourselves, how we help others, and what we allow ourselves to learn, gain, and enjoy from the experience.
In a word, my takeaway is that it’s about being open. Open to opportunities. Open to standing up and letting others know that we’re here to offer what we can and help in any capacity. Because as much as we hope, believe, and think we’ll know what others will remember us for, we really don’t know. While we are writing our own stories, we’re also living them, and we can’t predict what’s coming down the road. We just take them as we come, hoping that what we bring to the table can transform the world and make it a better place.
The other part of what I’ve been mulling over all day is the same drum I beat over and over again in this newsletter. We need to be okay with hearing the word, “no.” As I learned in my interview earlier, a door had to close in order for the Batman door to open. Sometimes “no” can be a blessing, and sometimes it can lead to something beyond our wildest imaginations. Life’s a gift like that. It can be a real curse sometimes (typically on Mondays), but it’s a gift, too.
Keep creating your wonderful works of art. I say this every month, but I believe in you. I know you’re working on something amazing and wonderful, and I know that it’s going to be life-changing to someone else out there in the world. Just be open to chance.
We’re all in this together,
Scott
P.S. If you ever want to check out my interviews with creators, I created a podcast interview page on my website.
Love it! Can't wait to hear the podcast