“Take the Controller”
- JP de la Rama
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
What Pokémon, a 70-Year-Old Entrepreneur, and My 5-Year-Old Taught Me About Creative Ownership.
“Your life doesn’t change when the world gives you permission—it changes the moment you decide to take the controller back into your own hands.”
Setting the Stage
Earlier today, I watched my daughter—now five years old—boot up PokePark 2 for what feels like the thousandth time.
She has finished the game. Multiple times, in fact.
But there she was, happily diving back into the same missions, the same puzzles, the same characters she already knows by heart.
No boredom. No hesitation. No fear of repetition.
Just pure joy.
Later that day, YouTube randomly recommended me a video of a 70-year-old businessman talking about the secret to a happy and successful life.
And his message hit me harder than I expected:
“It’s your responsibility to take your life into your own hands. Nobody else will do it for you.”
And suddenly, these two seemingly unrelated moments—the PokePark replay and the wisdom of an old entrepreneur—merged into a single realization.
Understanding the Real Problem
As artists, we often forget this truth.
We wait.
We overthink.
We doubt.
We look for permission—from clients, from the industry, from algorithms, from society, from anyone who will validate that we’re moving in the “right” direction.
We let ourselves be defined by:
Low-paying clients
Indifferent markets
The chaos of AI disruption
A declining economy
People who don’t value real craft
Systems designed to keep creatives dependent instead of empowered
And somewhere along the way, we lose the joy we once had—the same joy my daughter has when she replays her favorite game.
We forget what it felt like to pick up the controller and play simply because we wanted to.
The businessman’s words echoed the brutal truth:
No one is coming to save us.
No company.
No government.
No client.
No miracle platform.
If we don’t take ownership of our creative lives…
Someone else will.
Reclaiming Your Creative Identity
Watching my daughter replay a game she loves reminded me of something we tend to bury deep as adults:
You don’t need permission to create your own path.
You only need courage to begin.
And the 70-year-old entrepreneur confirmed it:
You don’t have to follow someone else’s rules.
You can build your own identity, your own work, your own opportunities.
Here’s the quiet, powerful truth:
You can redefine your career at any age.
You can build your own IP even while working on client jobs.
You can reshape your identity as an artist anytime you decide.
You can create opportunities instead of waiting for them.
You can tell your own stories—the ones no AI model can replicate.
We may not control the economy.
We may not control the industry.
But we absolutely control our effort, our direction, and our will to keep creating.
Sometimes all it takes to restart your journey…
It is the reminder that your hands are still on the controller.
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