I Quit 🔪

A lot of people have favorite lists…

Favorite books…

Favorite courses…

Favorite movies…

Favorite recipes…

I do too.

But today, I want to focus on what I hate.

What can I say, I hate a lot of things right now.

I feel the online world is full of robot voices and memes telling me everything is rainbows and unicorns, or that the world is ending. Depends on the day. Or the hour. 

There’s influencers telling me my kid needs raw milk. Others telling me I will die if I drink it. Bowl of meat, anyone? Then there is a whole slew of men boys that have never left their basement telling me all it takes to rake in the big bucks is creating passive income through affiliate offers. 

I’ve “lived” on the internet for a long-ass time.

I'm just tired.

So here's everything I won’t be doing in 2025.

You won’t see me cold plunging while snorting matcha and eating probiotics so I can be more “productive.” I know this sounds wild, but you actually don’t need ANYTHING to be productive or creative. You already have everything you need. You do not need an elaborate routine either. In college, I had a SIMPLE routine that helped me make hundreds of paintings. I’d go to the “Creek,” a popular bar on weekend nights, drink some Coors Light, have some fun, maybe make out with a boy, then come home to my basic apartment across from the famous prison that held mobsters like John Gotti (a story for another day) – and paint for hours – while watching Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model. It wasn’t a fancy art studio or an elaborate routine. It was just me, time, trash TV, and some paints. It was simple. And it can be simple. 

Fuck giving it 100%. I’m going to stick to my routine 80% of the time. Unless you are a psychopath, you aren’t going to write or create the same amount of art, at the same time, every day – always. Your client will hate your work, and you will have to start over. Your kid will get 101 viruses at school. Your routine will get fucked up. The same way your kid might go through a sleep regression, you might go through a creative regression. Don’t spend a week or two beating yourself up about it. Just get back on it, as soon as you can and keep going. (After you do this so long, you might find that these little falloff periods are part of your routine too, and you can plan for it. Maybe you write for 3 weeks, then 1 week off. Just observe and adapt.) 

I refuse to set ANY SMART goals for new creative projects. (Or anything else next year.) Imagine setting a smart goal about what kind of mom you wanted to be… For example…

"Become the ultimate 'good mom' by constructing a fully functional pillow fort kingdom, complete with snack stations, a slide, and a secret password, and host weekly royal family meetings with my kids as co-rulers by February 2025."

It’s ridiculous isn’t it? The most meaningful things that we will do in our lives cannot be measured in those sort of metrics. They can’t be curated or planned in these sorts of ways. Real progress—real, meaningful change—happens when we focus on how we want to feel. I want my daughters to feel safe with me, no matter what. That won’t happen with one pillow fort. 

Being a “good” mom isn’t something you achieve. It’s a practice.

Creatvity is no different. 

So fuck the smart goals. Figure out how you want to feel, and create a practice you enjoy so deeply it just becomes a natural part of your life, like brushing your teeth. 

Okay, I think that’s enough hate for one day.

Take all that rage and go make some shit.