Damn it, Anthony! Grieving the asshole known as Anthony Bourdain
Selfishly, I have always hoped to hang with Anthony Bourdain; he's the ultimate reformed bad guy. Well, was.
I thought this motivational speaker online did an interesting review of this pessimistically assumed writer, one I appreciated:
1.) I don't Care Attitude. Live like no one is watching. It's what I try and do, and ultimately struggle with. Mostly, it's my own inner comparison. This idea that I'm not good enough because I'm comparing my piece of pie to someone elses' and that my success is linked somehow to others. Perspective of passion and caring but not about the drama, the judgement, the bullshit. Anthony was all about avoiding bullshit by being real. He didn't care what others thought about his shit - it was his.
2.) Do Things Differently. Once you realize your life is a game, that everything is moving, you realize the truth behind the disease that is stagnate energy. To get bored, to feel trapped in space, to lose your passion because you're in a routine. To change things because you must.
3.) Always be Prepared. To bring your own water, to accept you need your meds, to have a translator in a foreign country, and to drop your ego. We all have comfort zone and worries, and you cannot ignore them - but learn to USE them. Always ready helps to ease anxiety and it's a delicate practice of knowledge.
4.) Have fun when working. Expression - he explained that creativity shouldn't be pushed or forced, it should have a purpose that includes fun. I struggle to include fun with business, work has never been something I enjoyed (mostly because I've worked for others). Doing jobs like Anthony, working behind kitchens, and living pay check to paycheck in hopes of finding my bliss. To make money doing something I love has yet to be a blessing in my life at the point I can support my family.
5.) Find your Dream. Finding my dream, as if it's somewhere, and I'm seeking. I know I'm strange and unusual, I know I adore the odd, and that I DID invest a lot of time and money into feeling confident about it. I love to write, to narrate, to be creative and help others, but is that a dream? Isn't that just human connection? What specifically is MY gift? It's something I Struggle with and mostly because I know I want to be a detective, a profiler, a writer, a photographer - I want it all. I want so much, it doesn't fit in one lane.
6.) Love the Process. I always want to be doing something. Being IN the process makes me feel productive. I don't need the item, the memory, the photos, the prints, but the moments LIVED are the addiction. The private moment that you know is going to pass - like Anthony mentions a certain pride to be birthed. To love a temporary moment - a fleeting moment of the process - the journey and less of the destination. A hard thing to apply but easy to try and achieve. Epiphanies for me are counted on one hand and I Hope to increase that - but HOW? I get this question a lot, and the answer I believe, is because you have to enjoy the process, even the shitty times along the way. The sweaty - anxious filled days are a part of the process.
7.) Find YOUR Creative Process. My creative process is photographing and narrating. To try and warp perceptions - to grow with others by brain storming thoughts. I know this without doubt.
8.) Invest Emotionally. Don't just puke bullshit. Don't just blow smoke. Add the human element, the fear, the anxiety, the fact that your moment is WORTH capturing because your addition adds girth. Anthony had a great way with words, his books are still on my to-read list even though I've read them. Each life event passes and the narration changes for me. He explains life events as a gang-rape and how things should be sensual. Emotions aren't just happy, they aren't just quick and over with. The juice of the story can be in the verbal marinade. He brought love to his work despite how much the process might bring pain. He welcomed the shit of the world.
9. Seize Opportunity. He laughs at the irony of the world, the fickle way of the Universe. He discusses how selfish the world is because it is the TRUE SELF STORY that makes his life opportunity. He never sold out. He never accepted the dream because he knew better. He loved to collaborate but still be firm. He was delusional and real, like a cloud of good cigar smoke. And, just like that... he went quietly into the darkness. His cynicism may have unleashed his depression.
10.) Keep it Simple. Old School. A piece of toast with brown sugar. A cast iron that isn't completely clean. NO money or fame, no amount of opinion makes him overbeat an egg and he applies his cooking to life. He wanted things fresh, real, honest, and either completely transparent and pure or completely daring and out there. He lived on the edge of extreme duality and yet talked with the reverence and resentment of a 44 year old dishwasher. He was humble and skeptical. God Damn it, Anthony Bourdain, you were supposed to narrate some more of my life and meet me in Amsterdam. His complex break down of a simple thing will be missed.
I thought this motivational speaker online did an interesting review of this pessimistically assumed writer, one I appreciated:
1.) I don't Care Attitude. Live like no one is watching. It's what I try and do, and ultimately struggle with. Mostly, it's my own inner comparison. This idea that I'm not good enough because I'm comparing my piece of pie to someone elses' and that my success is linked somehow to others. Perspective of passion and caring but not about the drama, the judgement, the bullshit. Anthony was all about avoiding bullshit by being real. He didn't care what others thought about his shit - it was his.
2.) Do Things Differently. Once you realize your life is a game, that everything is moving, you realize the truth behind the disease that is stagnate energy. To get bored, to feel trapped in space, to lose your passion because you're in a routine. To change things because you must.
3.) Always be Prepared. To bring your own water, to accept you need your meds, to have a translator in a foreign country, and to drop your ego. We all have comfort zone and worries, and you cannot ignore them - but learn to USE them. Always ready helps to ease anxiety and it's a delicate practice of knowledge.
4.) Have fun when working. Expression - he explained that creativity shouldn't be pushed or forced, it should have a purpose that includes fun. I struggle to include fun with business, work has never been something I enjoyed (mostly because I've worked for others). Doing jobs like Anthony, working behind kitchens, and living pay check to paycheck in hopes of finding my bliss. To make money doing something I love has yet to be a blessing in my life at the point I can support my family.
5.) Find your Dream. Finding my dream, as if it's somewhere, and I'm seeking. I know I'm strange and unusual, I know I adore the odd, and that I DID invest a lot of time and money into feeling confident about it. I love to write, to narrate, to be creative and help others, but is that a dream? Isn't that just human connection? What specifically is MY gift? It's something I Struggle with and mostly because I know I want to be a detective, a profiler, a writer, a photographer - I want it all. I want so much, it doesn't fit in one lane.
6.) Love the Process. I always want to be doing something. Being IN the process makes me feel productive. I don't need the item, the memory, the photos, the prints, but the moments LIVED are the addiction. The private moment that you know is going to pass - like Anthony mentions a certain pride to be birthed. To love a temporary moment - a fleeting moment of the process - the journey and less of the destination. A hard thing to apply but easy to try and achieve. Epiphanies for me are counted on one hand and I Hope to increase that - but HOW? I get this question a lot, and the answer I believe, is because you have to enjoy the process, even the shitty times along the way. The sweaty - anxious filled days are a part of the process.
7.) Find YOUR Creative Process. My creative process is photographing and narrating. To try and warp perceptions - to grow with others by brain storming thoughts. I know this without doubt.
8.) Invest Emotionally. Don't just puke bullshit. Don't just blow smoke. Add the human element, the fear, the anxiety, the fact that your moment is WORTH capturing because your addition adds girth. Anthony had a great way with words, his books are still on my to-read list even though I've read them. Each life event passes and the narration changes for me. He explains life events as a gang-rape and how things should be sensual. Emotions aren't just happy, they aren't just quick and over with. The juice of the story can be in the verbal marinade. He brought love to his work despite how much the process might bring pain. He welcomed the shit of the world.
9. Seize Opportunity. He laughs at the irony of the world, the fickle way of the Universe. He discusses how selfish the world is because it is the TRUE SELF STORY that makes his life opportunity. He never sold out. He never accepted the dream because he knew better. He loved to collaborate but still be firm. He was delusional and real, like a cloud of good cigar smoke. And, just like that... he went quietly into the darkness. His cynicism may have unleashed his depression.
10.) Keep it Simple. Old School. A piece of toast with brown sugar. A cast iron that isn't completely clean. NO money or fame, no amount of opinion makes him overbeat an egg and he applies his cooking to life. He wanted things fresh, real, honest, and either completely transparent and pure or completely daring and out there. He lived on the edge of extreme duality and yet talked with the reverence and resentment of a 44 year old dishwasher. He was humble and skeptical. God Damn it, Anthony Bourdain, you were supposed to narrate some more of my life and meet me in Amsterdam. His complex break down of a simple thing will be missed.
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