29. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
January 16, 2025
At the end of 2021, I received a journal from one of the printers I worked with. It’s common for vendors to send gifts like that during the holidays. What made it extraordinary was the message on the cover. Stamped on the front and spine: INFINITE POSSIBILITIES; on the back: “Don’t forget—no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.” —Charles de Lint. Many other customers received it, but I’m pretty sure that no one else was already telling stories about infinite possibilities. Inside, there’s a photo of the cosmos with the words: “Go for it.” Even though I didn’t fully understand it myself, it gave me permission to continue and trust my instincts.
In 2022, I received another journal from the same printer. This one was stamped with: Bright Ideas. Printed inside: “Most brilliance arises from ordinary people working together in extraordinary ways.” —Roger von Oech. I filled it with quotes from all the great minds, repeating what I did in college with the blank journal I made at the bookbinding workshop.
Walt Whitman’s quote, “A writer can do nothing for men more necessary, satisfying, than just simply to reveal to them the infinite possibility of their own souls,” stands out to me now. ChatGPT said it could almost be my manifesto.
