If you talk to me for any length of time, you will come to find, I am in love with musical theater. From the time I was very little, my mother took me to musicals. She listened to them on cassette tape. We watched VHS tapes of recorded musicals like You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Oklahoma, and Into The Woods. The year I was born a musical came out called Sunday in the Park with George. My brother and I watched it so much that it became part of our childhood. So last year, when we saw it was playing in New York, we bought tickets and went.

Sunday in the Park with George is a story of the famous painter, George Seurat and his personal and professional struggles. His style was not embraced by the time he lived in but he still strove to create something different. At the end of the show, George tells his companion “There’s nothing that’s not been done before.” and she corrects him with “Done by YOU though.”

And isn’t that the thing?

When you’re sitting at your computer, trying to come up with a blog post and everything in your heart is telling you “Someone has already written a post on SEO.” (or shutter speed, or lens reviews, or logo design), write it anyway! Take what YOU know and share it because it’s not that someone might already know the information, it’s that someone might not. Or maybe someone needs to hear it only the way you can say it.

Or if there’s an image you love and want to try the same pose, do it! Make it yours. Make it original.

Imagine if everything just stopped at one. If people who made movies about love stories thought “Well, someone’s already done a love story movie so I guess that’s out.” No way! Instead they tell it through different eyes, with different characters, in different ways. They might even tell the SAME story through different eyes. Hello, Beauty and the Beast (And every live action Disney movie that is currently in production). That’s the SAME story, same music, pretty much the same dang script, but shown to you through new eyes.

Going back to my childhood: I know this happened in yours too: My mother would tell me “Denise, let’s go rent this movie, it’s really good.” and I’d shake my head and she’d say “You’ll LOVE it! It’s so good!” and still, no thanks. I’d forget about the whole thing and a year later a friend would tell me “I rented this amazing movie, it’s so good, you’d like it.” I’d note the name, go home and tell my mom (very casually) that I’d like to rent that movie. She’d look, incredulous, at me and say “That’s the movie I told you to watch and you said no!”

Has this ever happened to you?  Sometimes we need to hear things from a different source, or in a different way before we get it. Before it clicks.

Stanley Kubrick said, “Everything has already been done. Every story has been told, every scene has been shot. It’s our job to do it one better.”

So there you have it. YES everything has been done before, but not by you. You have a world of things you haven’t done yet.

Thank you for being here for day 42. I’ll see you tomorrow for day 43: Is it worth it?