What Would David Bowie Do?

David Bowie gave his life to art. The man stood for something. I loved his weirdness, and his sweetness.

I never would have guessed that the passing of Bowie yesterday would have brought me to tears so immediately. Now, in my mid-30s, it's hard to imagine getting so choked up like this -- to cry for someone who I never actually met.

David Bowie is not man. Bowie wasn't even his real name. Bowie is symbol. He made a decision to be superhuman, and he showed us how.

Most people in life are not not given great examples how to live; or how to love; or how to embrace self-expression. For me, Bowie is rare, in that he upholds one of the best example of how to live the creative life.

Over the years he played many characters: I loved his boldness as Ziggy Stardust, his dark playfulness in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, and his "Dance-off" cameo in Zoolander. There was no one David Bowie. Bowie is large, he contains multitudes.

Bowie is best understood as his complete whole. His art can not be reduced to any one album or movie that he created, rather his art was in his practice of living. His art could is in everything he did. In the face of my own artistic insecurities, and my stumbling towards boldness, I'll sometimes ask myself, "What would David Bowie do?"

He succeeded in living multiple lives, all on one trip to our planet.

One day you will die too. If you think that you only live once, think of David Bowie. Be fearless. You only have many lives: It's time to use them.

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