Revolutionary Road

So this film, they got it right and people might say it was dark or too heavy, but isn’t that what life is? I love life. Although, I work and have ambitions both personal and professionally the most important thing that I can ever do is to live, for without it there would be no life. I must get up every morning, because that is our number one priority while here… in this place. The amount of days that we will live is a variable, but the outcome is very specific, now if you consider that dark well that’s your opinion, the outcome still remains. I simply see it as truth.

Back to the film. On average, you could say that younger people have more lofty aspirations – perhaps because the world hasn’t told them yet that they couldn’t do a particular thing. Even if you told me I couldn’t do something I probably wouldn’t listen to you because if I haven’t tried, then I haven’t lived and you are not me nor am I you. If you live by the aspirations of another or better put, if you let the reasons for why another did or didn’t make a decision be a standard for your life… well then you will never be anything more than the sum of the opinions of others. Being humble is just as important as being self-centered, because if you fail to define life on your own terms, I’m not sure I can express the tragedy. I believe in you, I think you can, we both can break precedent and perhaps some of us wont, but I believe some will. Sadly, for all of us beautiful dreamers we have friends, relatives, associates who have allowed the rigors of life to determine the ceiling of their lives. The reason this film is authentic is simple: it was authentic. The balance between cast & directors – they weren’t afraid to show the fact that dreams don’t always come true. A majority of our lives is spent by us rationalizing our shortcomings in hopes that one day it will all work out. There are so many words that will remain unsaid because we are afraid to be wrong, I am failing everyday, but failure is never permanent for me because I will never cease to live life. Our investments in self are not always rewarded by financial, popular, and emotional standards this is why decisions about your life should be made in the interest of the most important person you know: YOU.

An excerpt from the film…

April Wheeler: Tell me the truth, Frank, remember that? We used to live by it. And you know what’s so good about the truth? Everyone knows what it is however long they’ve lived without it. No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying.

Sincerely,

RAF

moi x leye x new friend

beach club x lagos

ripples in the water

converse all star x lagos

corona x center of the world

chin x water on sand x lagos

new friend x dock on water x lagos

moi x water in the background

sun over looking water

chin x moi x sand x lagos

happy monday

xx

RAF

I like thinking about death because it is the best motivator I can have. Regardless of my present situation I’m still staring at a plethora of opportunity that an abundance of people would die to have, no pun intended. Why sulk at the short-term hiccups of your life when it could potentially all end tomorrow? I don’t want to drown in the tears of my self-induced pressures when 200,000 plus people have just been injured in an earthquake and are without food, water, communication, family. Where is the perspective?

What’s the point of all of this? Why can’t you be the person who changes your industry? Why are you afraid to think bigger? Why won’t you apply for the higher paid job that has greater expectations? Are you afraid of failure? EVERYONE FAILS. I REPEAT EVERYONE FAILS. The trick is to not make a habit of it. When you give up you make failure PERMANENT. I fail time after time, but I’m relentless enough not to take no for an answer, if you apply that type of philosophy to your life it’s only a matter of time until things change for you, because you will create your own opportunities. No one will ever do for you like you can do for yourself, relying on others can bode success, but referring someone who is doing for themselves adds that much more authenticity.

There is no one you should allow to tell you who you can or can’t be. The unemployment rate is jumping through the roof, YES, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a job. That means its MORE competitive, BUT THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF JOBS. How much are you willing to sacrifice for that which you covet?

When I tell people I work in fashion they say where did you go to school, I say, ‘NYU Stern,’ they say what? I stare with a face of disdain… ‘yes, I was a finance major.’ I am spending my young adulthood flying on planes to see clients who have no commitment to purchase product from me, but I do it because I believe in myself & my ability to create a wardrobe for any man. If you don’t believe in yourself why should someone else put their faith in you? By nature humans are followers – if one person likes what you are doing & your product the chances are more people will too. Every time I bring a smile to the face of a client it reassures me that this journey is not in vain. If nothing I am saying resonates with you, that’s fine, but never stop believing in yourself. Find who you are as a person. Take notes of the people/places/things that make you happy and build around that. This is your life and you should sketch it to your liking not that of the next man.

yea.i.do.

Though he was, “instilled” to love art and music it was not till the age of thirty that he took the leap of faith to follow his life-long passion. This is one of the most important ideaologies that I have ever believed, it is never too late to reinvent yourself. PERIOD. If you are willing to sacrifice your time, energy, and emotion for something that you are passionate about people will respect that in which you covet. If you are not driven enough to take the leap of faith for your dreams no one else will so let me restate that it is NEVER TO LATE TO REINVENT YOURSELF.

Today might be the day you wake up and find what truly motivates you as an invidual. Better today than never. Better to die with a heart full of passionn and a lust for living than going through the motions as someone or something that is a complete falacy to who you are inside. Ironically, as I have stated in the past these types of life changing experiences are not stumbled upon, instead one has to fully experience life in order to create. If you don’t push yourself to experience you won’t have any experiences. Out of poverty, tragedy, sadness, happiness, out of emotional extremes in the only time when true art will be experienced. Perhaps this is part of the tragedy of life that in order for you & I to experience the beautiful works of another that person had to suffer – dearly. They didn’t always intend for us to view and critque their works. Their work was their life: they didn’t live their lives as painters…instead painting was their life.

Kandinsky states that, “every work comes into being in the same way as the cosmos–by means of catastrophes… The creation of the work of art is the creation of the world.”

But the truth about all of this is that you can be anyone who you want to be if you have the dedication: the sacrafice to see through all of the critics…stay the course and be the person who you would like to be.

That is all.

For now.

Thank you Vasily.