Checking In

Check in with each other. It's easy to get caught up in our own lives. I am terribly guilty of this personally. Often we have no idea what others are wrestling with.

A friend of a friend just committed suicide. It was after a big event.

Having been some one that's both 'goal oriented' and deals with depression, I would say make sure to check in with friends during 'major events.' Especially friends whom you know wrestle with depression or are going through a sudden bout of melancholy. It may seem like they have everything going for them, but they may just be considering that 'one last event' before they go. I know, because I've had the same thought before.

I'm not trying to be morbid, it's just something I've noticed.

Check in with each other. Hold each other up. Hold each other close.

My love to you all.

Decisions, Peace and Purpose

What is Legal isn’t always what is Right.

What is Ethical isn’t always what is Nice.

What is Necessary isn’t always what is Kind.

I’ve read a lot lately about ‘finding balance.’ And I think what they usually mean is ‘finding peace.’ Which finding serenity in this world is a lovely thing. But any such state will always be temporary, and it’s understanding and appreciating that that helps us mature, smile, and stay sane in the turbulence.

Life is not about ‘finding balance.’ It’s about making decisions. The choices you make and the actions you take are what decide who you are. Sometimes that line, of what is ‘right or wrong’ is not always clear. Those are the moments when you decide who you are.

There is nothing wrong with being a ‘nice person.’ We like nice people. We also tend to forget them sometimes. On the other end, we claim to admire people with conviction. Yet there have been some horrible people throughout history that had a lot of conviction in what they did.

The point I’m getting at in all of this is that it’s okay. Sometimes there just are no ‘right answers’, there’s just the answer that makes the most sense to us at the time. Invariably, there will be aftermath to these decisions, leaving us ever wondering ‘did I make the wrong decision?’

You did if you made your decision from selfishness, smallness, meanness, hate or any other such places. Sometimes even good intentions can lead to terrible decisions if they are made with insight.

So look around you. How can you make this day better? How can you improve your life? How can you make someone else’s day better? How can you help someone you care about improve their life?

If you make your decisions with a little love in your heart, learn from your experiences (and the experiences of others so you don’t have to make those same mistakes), and take a moment to absorb what is going on around you and how this moment, this choice will affect that world; either positively or negatively; then you will be able to look back on a life of choices well made.

It won’t be an easy life. It won’t be a simple one. There will be moments of doubt, confusion, fear and turbulence that no training will completely prepare you for. But if you focus on the betterment you can make of the given situation, you will have a life you can look back on and be proud of.

And there’s your serenity. Your peace. Your ‘balance.’

Gratitude

As a performer, many of us continuously work on honing our craft. Dance classes, workshops, training and conditioning, learning new tips on make up, costuming, etc. etc. etc.

And despite all the work that I and others have put into our careers, we need to remember that those careers don’t exist in a vacuum.

As a burlesque performer I have immense respect for the performers that paved the way before me. (And continue to do so.) From Berlin classics like Marlene Dietricht, veterans like Chris Owens and Tempest Storm, people like Dita Von Teese that helped bring burlesque back to the national stage, my first burlesque director Emily Doubilet who opened up my college campus to burlesque, current trail blazers like Bella Blue , Trixie Minx, Reverend Spooky Le Strange and Perle Noire who have helped make burlesque a household name and opened up possibilities to the rest of us that would never have been accessible otherwise. To all of you and so many more I say thank you.

Thank you for being pioneers. Thank you for doing what many did not think possible. Thank you for helping provide my place on the stage.

But most importantly, just Thank you.

Evening's Peace

Hearing my neighbor sing to herself. Couldn't make out the words until I realized she was singing in her Native Turkish. I love the diversity of where I live, and the time that I'm alive that I get to enjoy and experience so much.

Were it to all end tomorrow, I could look back and smile upon a good life well lived. And for that I am unfathomably grateful. To my parents for raising me, instilling strong values and a work ethic in me, for those I have loved and those I have lost and the pieces of you I carry with me, for the wonderful friends that have been my shoulder in the hard times and my drinking partner in the good, for colleagues and comrades that have shared this journey, to my family that has loved and supported me; both blood and adopted along the way, and to where my heart rests. May you ever bathe in the brilliance that you are.

I rest tonight with a smile and a full heart, and for that I thank you all.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Turkish folk song to learn. smile emoticon

~ Love, Gideon Hodge