Jet’s Journal - #118
January 27, 2025
Hi All!
Here is your weekly round up of what I’m pondering and exploring. Feel free to forward along to a friend if you think they might enjoy.
Riding the road of life
I just had a short conversation with Dad about using his motorbike for my provisional test next month.
As we were speaking I recalled the time I rode from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi and the lesson he taught me before departing on my trip back in 2019.
“Where you look is where you go,” he told me.
At the time this was just practical riding advice that explained the mechanics of being on a bike, and how where you looked with your head, controlled the direction of where the bike moved.
This was an important reminder when I was riding so I would remain aware of the road ahead, and not get distracted by things that could quite literally derail me.
Fast forward to now, and this conversation we just had (less than five minutes ago) and I’ve just realised this is a fantastic metaphor for being on the road of life.
If you turn your attention for one moment towards a negative thought, you will slowly start moving towards that negative reality, versus building that mindfulness to keep laser sharp focus on where you’re trying to go.
However, there’s a caveat to this—while you might have an intended destination in mind on your own journey, you will most likely run into road blocks. It’s important that in that moment, you do not focus on the block so intensely that you crash into it, and instead scan the road ahead, turn away from the objection and find a new path.
This is where the real fun happens anyway.
Art making as breathing
As an artist, making things and expressing yourself is as essential as exhaling after a deep inhale. I compare this inhale to breathing in life experiences as we move through the days. The exhale that comes after is what we make of these moments and release into the world.
And similar to how the CO2 we exhale helps the trees create oxygen—the art we produce also feeds those around us.
Art is a life force that others absorb, transform, and subsequently use to fuel their own actions in the world.
This is why I believe art is more important than most realise.
If you have something you want to express, please do that and let out the exhale you’ve been holding in.
Do what you feel, not what you think
Something I’ve ironically been thinking about lately is the art of not thinking at all.
What I mean by this is moving from intellect to instinct and intuition.
I know so many people (myself included) who get in their own way, simply by thinking too much. We try calculate, predict, and bend the world to our own will instead of riding it’s waves.
There are so many parallels I could draw here to demonstrate when commitment and confidence trumps intellectual hesitation and doubt.
For my skaters, you know that when your about to do a trick you need hundred percent commitment, because the moment you start questioning yourself is the exact moment that sends you to the emergency ward at the hospital.
Another example for my footy players this time is when your coach has come up with a plan for the game, and a set structure you should follow, however, in the blink of an eye you see an opportunity open up out the back that goes against everything you’ve trained. This is when you read your opposition, see a crack in their defence and go for it. We call this playing what’s in front.
I draw another comparison here from footy to acting. You could memorise your lines and know them word for word, however, if your partner is going off script from what you were planning, you need to adapt, and instead of going back to the lines you trained, you learn to speak with your partner, not to them, as you react to one another in harmony.
The reason why I bring up all these examples up—especially the footy and acting ones, is because you are not siloed from the world—you are a part of it and you are both simultaneously reacting to each other.
Turning Mistakes into Iconic Photos
I love this photographers mentality to shooting.
Trains and routine
There’s something oddly relaxing about being on a train. I must enjoy the stillness mixed with being in motion—probably because it mirrors my still body and racing mind.
I remember being young and having to catch an hour-long train to footy training in Glenfield every week. Each ride I’d sit there looking out the window in awe of all the trackside graffiti and constantly changing surroundings. I’m so thankful to all the artists that helped transform what could’ve been a boring commute into something interesting.
I also can’t remember if I’ve wrote about this before but in the past I’ve literally got on a random train, road it to the end of the line, didn’t get off and rode all the way back. I know that sounds like probably the most boring activity possible, but to me it made me feel like I was travelling somewhere—which in all honesty, I think I’m missing right now—the act of being in motion.
I work full-time now, so everyday has been looking practically the same apart from the afternoons which alternate depending on if I’m catching up with a friend or going to watch a movie, most likely by myself. Thankfully though, for this afternoons activity I’m watching Marty Supreme with a few friends at The Ritz in Randwick.
I think I’ve realised, I’m someone who gets restless quite easily and needs constant stimulus, change, or at least something to look forward to. I have no clue if this is a good or bad thing but I should probably try get better at staying still.
One small thing I’ll do to keep me from getting too bored and fed up with my routine is taking a different route to the same destination. I’ll do things like catch a different train, ride a different bus, or walk down a different street. I find this helps prevent the routine from sucking the life out of me.
Hope everyone enjoys their week.
Love,
Jet Williams