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Denelle DeFer's avatar

I think you’re special, Jeff. You remind me of Jagger. I thought I was special in the first years of life. My brother died and I was sad. I was an A student which kept my dad happy but not me. I studied with Buddhists in high school and changed lanes for life. I got happy and have sought peace ✌🏽 and joy every day since.

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Jeff Gill's avatar

Thanks, Denelle! I'm totally happy for other people to think I'm special. 😊

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Matt's avatar

If I'd have grasped the full extent of my natural inadequacies as a kid I might have taken life a bit more seriously. So I'm glad I had absolutely no idea. Annoyingly, getting older just seems to be an ongoing process of disillusionment that can just pack it in.

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Jeff Gill's avatar

Matt, the thing I love about disillusionment is that it reveals possibilities. I used to imagine I was going to be one of the all-time great graphic designers. That illusion is long gone. Without the weight of that impossible dream, I've got more energy available to give to things I can be great at. As a designer, I'm really good at helping people get their thing from zero to one. I'm good in high-pressure situations. I'm great at turning rough ideas into beautifully polished finished products. None of these things win you best designer prizes or make the world gasp at my stunning originality, but they are super fun and satisfying to me.

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Jill Reeves's avatar

My husband and I ate tofu. We were runners. We married, worked, and traveled the world for 7 years, anticipating that when we were ready, we would have children. After a very unexpected miscarriage (wait, now…we’re healthy! How could that happen?!) we didn’t conceive until five years later, all the while getting poked and prodded and tested and doing several expensive IVF treatments. A five year wait. Not fair. (But I thought we were special!) It was a tough time for we Big Manifesters. I dropped the assumption of being blessed. We finally had healthy twins. A boy and a girl. It’s a story of stepping down out of the Special Zone.

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Jeff Gill's avatar

A Tough Time for Big Manifesters is the name of my next album. 😁

It amazes me how often dropping expectations frees up something that allows people to receive the thing they were previously straining to get. It's counterintuitive (and annoying until you embrace it) but definitely a real thing.

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