After going down a rabbit hole of TED Talks, I decided I would find something that was more recent; something different from the typical selection (from 2014-2017) youtube typically offers to play for me next. I picked this one at random and I am choosing to reflect on this for class since it ended up being one of the few talks that truly allowed me stop and think.

About the Speaker

Daniel J Watts is a TV Actor and Broadway Performer who was nominated for a Tony in 2020 for his role of Ike on Tina: The Tina turner Musical.

Summary (but this does the performance no justice)

Daniel begins by taking on the TED stage with paint bottles and a blank canvas. He drags his shoes across the paint, allowing us to wonder about the type of visual art he will make, but he eventually begins to bring in other performative aspects into his storytelling like sound, dance, and spoken word.

Through this performance, he recounts the past few years of his life leading up to covid, all while timing key moments to coincide with when he pours splashes of paint that he soon steps through. On theme, he places emphasis on how he has been complimented on how he never “lets the paint dry” — as he takes on opportunity after opportunity when they present themselves and while he goes on through life, one event after another.

He utilizes ‘wet paint’ as a metaphor for these opportunities. Over time, he tells us about beginning to feel the effects of burning out as more ‘wet paint’ is added. However, he displays his stubbornness through his continued enthusiasm for this ‘wet paint’ despite his fatigue. As the wet paint under his feet begins to dry, he looks at the indistinguishable swirls of color and remarks “do I really want all this?” as he questions his direction in life soon before the pandemic hits. He stares at what he just created and comes to the conclusion that he “needs to let the paint dry” because otherwise his “yellows and (his) blues will make green even though that’s not what (he) really really wants.” He ends by telling the audience that he cannot finish the piece because to do so, he has to let the paint dry.

Reflection

The burnout and the uncertainty from Daniel’s story was very relatable. More so because most of us grew up in environments where “hustling” and “doing your absolute best” is all that mattered; with no regard for what we allocate out energy to.

Recently, I’ve been struggling to figure out where to go and what to do in life; so along the way, I’ve tried to take whatever opportunities I could. I too, ignored the looming burnouts that awaited me even if it meant enjoying fewer relaxing and happy moments during the summer. As someone who is able to adapt to different situations, I’ve grown up indecisive and have just settled into learning from anything and everything I can. I lost sight of my own sense of direction, but have always felt the need to ‘follow the path laid out’ while also ‘pursuing my dreams.’ It feels like living two lives pulling at each other.

Utilizing Daniel’s metaphor, I often drowned in wet paint. Figuring out a career, while taking a class where you can create a passion project (hint, it’s this one), taking the opportunity to dance again, and the opportunity to work, and do the last few bits of school learning, has given me great opportunities to navigate this feeling of questioning. “What have I done?” I’ve been telling myself. Along with “what do I do?” “what SHOULD I do?” “what is logical?” “what in what I do is for me and what is for everyone else?” and most importantly “can I handle this?” and “is this necessary?” I am hoping to be able to spend more time reflecting as more and more of this internal conflict is being brought into my awareness.

From Daniel’s talk, I realized that intention requires self-reflection and moments of silence even when life urges us to keep walking through “wet paint.” Especially today, through an ongoing pandemic, in the midst of multiple global crises, it becomes so crucial to take a moment to figure out how to move forward.

As a bonus, the medium Daniel chose and how effective it was is causing me to wonder about how metaphors and intermediaries sometimes communicate better than actual words; this will be something I will remember for my project’s process and development.