"I always thought I was intellectual about what I do, but I've come to the realization that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing half the time." ~ David Bowie
I wrote this quote down in my high school journal on September 20, 2016. I'm not sure why I felt the need to date it but I guess it's good that I did.
One of the people who will always have my heart is David Bowie, and I think this quote is exactly what I needed to hear at the time. As a teenager, it is very easy to assume that everyone has it more figured out than you do. I remember not being able to wrap my head around the concept of growing up and becoming an adult, who just automatically knows how to deal with "real life" situations. However, with the help of Bowie and just seeing the world a little more, I have come to realize that no one fully has it together and no one really knows what the hell is going on. The real art is faking it until you make it, and some of us are just better at it than others. I still struggle with this idea, but once it's put in the context of a universal battle, a little bit of the insecurity and worry attached to it disappears. In fact, I think it's more impressive when people have the humility to admit what they don't know rather than shed light on what they do know. We are always trying to prove ourselves and show our strengths, but to display vulnerability is the real challenge.
My grandmother once told me: "Whenever you think you have complete control, it is an illusion" and she's right! We as mortal human beings, only have so much power. The rest is up to God, the universe, destiny, whatever you want to call it, because if things always went the way as planned, there would be no room for growth. Life would be perfection and there would be no purpose. We develop from the crappy times, we learn from the accidents, and there is no growth without a little rain at first. For example, this pandemic is a point of uncertainty for the whole world, and no one knows what the future holds, we can only hope for the best and take it one day at a time. We can only do our part, trust the process, and remember that a mistake is only a mistake if we do not learn from it.
Here is an interview with Bowie that I always come back to. This isn't where he states the quote above, but he does say some uplifting things about the joy of living.
