I’ve had a horrendous double ear infection this past week, I’ve never had one before, and I hope to never have one again, because it basically feels like your head is a bucket full of cotton and cement that’s been sunk to the bottom of the deep blue sea. And then, as if that weren’t enough, the occasional angry sea monkey happens by with a switchblade and jabs it into you repeatedly, for days on end, just for kicks.

Who me? Dramatic? nahhhhhhh.

Anyway, since my head’s been feeling like a zeppelin I’ve been laying around watching a lot of Netflix series and movies, which reminded me of something important:

You know that voice that says you have to do it this way or that way, that you have to do things the way they’ve always been done, that you have to be the way it’s always been, that you can’t be different, or do different… that you’re not good enough to be different and do different… that that’s a luxury only a few can afford? You know that one??

Well that voice is a script. A script like any other, one that’s already been written, one that’s been played and done a million times over.

To listen to that voice as if it is an authority is the equivalent of deciding to watch re-runs of the same movies and tv shows you’ve already watched and already know the ending to — over, and over, and over again, forever.

There is no room for anything new in that script, no room for anything fresh or exciting, surprising, shocking or full of wonder—because that script is based entirely on what’s been done. You’ve seen it. It’s all played out. There’s no room for unexpected twists, and thrilling turns. There’s no room for risk, so there’s no room for reward.

There’s nothing revolutionary, or inspired that could come out of that script, because those two qualities can literally only come from the fresh and new.

Sure, watching old movies and reruns may be comforting, and even wonderful for awhile, but you eventually yearn for the “shock and awe” factor of any good and truly inspired story. You can’t re-use an old played-out script and get an amazing new movie.

So why would you give authority to a voice that is entirely based on an already written script? That is madness.

Everybody knows the sequels and remakes are never as good as the original, because the original was a surprise. It broke the mold. It had that fresh unnameable sparkle that we all crave and thrive on. That’s the script you want.

Throw out the old scripts. Turn off the reruns for awhile. Find YOUR script. Create something fresh and new… turn the old script upside down… challenge the formula. Because no matter what the movie’s about, and no matter who the star of the show is, the truth is we’re all total suckers for an unexpected plot twist.

It’s funny how much we vehemently claim to be creatures of habit who loathe change and cling to the familiar, and yet we are positively obsessed with the rich tapestry of stories, books, movies, plays and series that are the polar opposite of that, and in fact, that is the very reason we prize them the way we do.

So the next time that old stale script pops up about how you can’t DO this or that, can’t BE this or that, or can’t MAKE IT WORK to do this or that…

call for a rewrite.  😉