Nancy Slotnick: Love the Possible

I was watching Lena Dunham on Charlie Rose the other day and despite the fact that I’m not loving her new haircut and the second season of Girls is proving to be overly ambitious, I was inspired.

And I shouldn’t be so hard on her.  It would be almost impossible not to choke under the pressure that she is facing at such a young age.  Emphasis on the almost impossible.  Which brings me to the part of the interview that was so inspiring.

When asked about how she accomplished such a meteoric rise, Lena quoted her Dad as saying, “Love the possible.”  That stuck with me.  Especially because I am trying to make that kind of meteoric rise happen in my life.  So I am embracing that idea.  My new year’s resolution is, as I have told you previously, (see my blog that quotes Will Smith’s new movie) to be fearless.

When you are fearless, anything is possible.  Or is it?  I embarked on a quest to see what is possible and what is in store for me, on a Tuesday morning recently.  I was hoping that a store front is in store for me.  I was contemplating the fact that anything is possible if you believe that you can achieve it.  How do you draw that line?  Is it possible that I could go to one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city and procure a retail space by the end of the day without more than a stick of gum, $20 and a Metrocard in my pocket?

Well, let’s see what the universe said.  I was able to procure a grilled cheese.  And it was good.  And then, as I was strolling around, following the path of whatever the universe sent me, I passed by an art gallery with a grafitti-esque painted canvas.  It read:  “Enough is possible.”  Thank you, universe, I have my answer!

Here’s how I interpreted that.  Not everything is possible.  I will not win the Tour de France in my lifetime.  Even if I use performance enhancing drugs and pass the drug tests in the post-Lance-on-Oprah era.  But having a bike ride with my son on a weekday and still getting him to get his homework done- that is possible.  And that is really great.
What is endemic to the idea that “Enough is possible” is that we need to take action, without waiting for perfection.  How many times have you said to yourself “If only?”  

“If only I didn’t have so many bills to pay,”

“If only my boss didn’t dump this new project on me,”

“If only I were taller,”

“If only I lost 10 pounds,”

“If only I were a man,”

then everything would be possible.  Not true.  If you are telling yourself “If only” now then you would be telling yourself “If only” then.

Enough is possible.  Enough is enough.  Go do it.  Just like Nike says.  Love the possible.

Commit to something that is possible and feels like “enough” for you.  Remember what I said last week about the bowl of cherries?  Ask yourself: “Is this as good as it gets?”  If the answer is yes, and the “this” is possible, then go for it.

And be relentless about it.  This doesn’t mean calling a girl 12 times in a row in case she lost your number.  It does mean coming up with 12 different ways to happen to run into her again casually without her realizing that you were being so Machiavellian and strategic.  Plus meeting 12 other girls similar to her and asking them out, just in case you were wrong about her and she’s not entirely worth your time.  That’s what I mean about relentless.

Not everything is possible but enough is possible.  Love the possible.

The possibilities are endful.  And the endings are happy.