The Known and the Unknown – #2
Excerpts from the Essay “Fail Safe”
Written by Debbie Millman
Post by Jennifer Kiley
Post Sunday 27th July 2014
The Essay titled “Fail Safe”
Taken From Anthology
Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays
on the Intersection of Life and Design

Debbie Millman is an Artist
Strategist & Interviewer

“Fail Safe” The Essay-Explores Existential Skills-Living With Uncertainty-Embracing The Unfamiliar-Allowing For Not Knowing-Cultivating What John Keats Famously Termed “Negative Capability”

The Known and the Unknown – #2

I dreamed of being
an artist and a writer,
but inasmuch as I knew
what I wanted,
I felt compelled
to consider what
was “reasonable”
in order
to safeguard
my economic future.

Even though
I wanted
what my best friend
once referred to as
“the whole wide world,”

I thought
it was prudent
to compromise.

I told myself
it was more
sensible to aspire
for success

that was
realistically
feasible

perhaps
even
failure-proof

It never
once occurred
to me
that I could
have it all.

All

ALL

“The Known and the Unknown” Part 2 – Jennifer Kiley

Remember

“Do What You LOVE”