A Door or a Wall

This season on Louie, there’s a three-episode arc in which Louis C.K. is offered the completely inconceivable opportunity to audition for the retiring David Letterman’s Late Show hosting job.  Louie is woefully inadequate in every way, to the point that he hesitates to even try. Until a CBS executive explains to him that this might be the best it ever gets, a do or die moment in which his career either finally takes off or hits its apex, the audition itself becoming the crowning achievement with nothing but mediocrity ahead of him.

Louie goes for it, halfheartedly at first but then balls to the wall. He goes on humiliating runs through the neighborhood, works out at a boxing gym, puts on a suit for the first time ever and subjects himself to the sadistic training regime of an old school entertainment coach played by David Lynch.

There is a moment where it looks as though no amount of training will get him to where he needs to be. Lynch’s character tells him they’re through, time’s up. No, says Louie. And that’s when he drops one of my favorite lines of the series:

“This is either a door or a wall for me, a beginning or an end.”

Louie needs to find out. Is it the end of the road, the big make-or-break moment that puts a capper on everything he’s worked for?  Or is this the door he walks through into a much bigger, brighter tomorrow. He doesn’t know, but he has to see this through, he must find out for himself.

I think the reason this concept resonates so much with me is that I’ve hit a wall myself this summer. I’ve reached what I consider to be the end to a lot of things I’ve been working at and involved with. Like Louie, I’ve decided to see if this was all there was or if there was actually a door I could walk through.

I’m excited to tell you that I’ve found the knob and I’m turning it as we speak. Over the next several weeks I’ll be making some major announcements and talking about some very cool projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes this fall.

In order to avoid the wall, there are some gigs and obligations I’ve had to say goodbye to and some changes I’ve had to make. But that’s all part of preparing to walk through the door. That’s part of making sure that there is a perpetual beginning in front of us rather than an end.

Are you facing a wall in some aspect of your life or your career? Are you sure it’s not a door waiting for you to walk through into the blinding light of a new opportunity? It just might be.