Episode 15: Claudia Zelevansky

In 1980 Olivia Newton-John starred in Robert Greenwald’s film Xanadu. A now cult classic movie about one of the nine muses of Olympus who comes to life in the modern world to inspire a struggling artist to keep pursuing his dream. The song Magic was probably the best thing about the movie, and it soared to number one in the US and in the UK. 

You have to believe we are magic

Nothin’ can stand in our way

You have to believe we are magic

Don’t let your aim ever stray

And if all your hopes survive

Destiny will arrive

I’ll bring all your dreams alive

For you

This could be the anthem for every artist on the planet. Every singer, dancer and choreographer, writer, actor, director, painter and sculptor, gymnast, football player, tennis player, long jumper and sprinter. You name it! In order to enter any field with the odds so stacked against you and so many factors of success out of your direct control, you have to believe in that dream more than life itself. And when you stop believing in the dream, what do you do? Claudia Zelevansky’s answer is you begin again. You move through your shame, you figure out what you need to be happy, and you move forward. You move forward even if the final destination is unknown. 

In her very thoughtful way, Claudia speaks a powerful truth about living today. We are at a time in human history when we must question the very relevance of long-standing conventions, beliefs and norms. And if we find them lacking, we must be brave enough to change them. As she keenly states, we have to put the context first and not the result.