If doing what you want is an option for you, you should do it, because your one of the few lucky people who can. And even if you fail, you will be in a better position than if you’d never tried. The competition probably isn’t that crazy. Most people are too scared to even try. Bad things can happen, but every horrible thing that has ever happened to me has added integrity to my art and improved my understanding of the human race.

Cynicism is more or less the act of giving in to one’s basest insecurities and fears—or buying into those of others, it’s inherently dialogical, as is everything IMO—and letting them guide your actions. In other words, everything gets filtered through the “ugh” and “siiiigh” filters, and it’s impossible for one to do most anything productive when buried waist-deep in that sort of shit. You’re consistently pushing outward at ostensibly negative forces that are collapsing in on you, and you’re wiring your brain to think that this is the only way of doing things. Everything is always already bad.