Today is August 28 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you remind yourself that the past cannot be changed but the future is yet in your power?”
People who navigate the chaos understand that the past cannot be changed but their future is in their power. Unable to do anything about the past, they look towards translating their dreams into reality in the future.
Canadian-American film actress and producer Mary Pickford noted “The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.”
Between 1912 and 1919, Mary Pickford jumped between a variety of studios, increasing her paychecks astronomically each time until she risked it all by joining with Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin to form United Artists.
The reaction from studio bosses is summed up by the oft repeated line, “The inmates have taken over the asylum” and it was not a smooth road, but they found the success that was most important to them because they totally controlled their own product. Mary would risk her career again the following year when she made the decision that instead of being “America’s sweetheart, I want to be one man’s sweetheart.”
At a time when stars were told they could not be divorced and still be big box office, Mary divorced Owen Moore and married Doug Fairbanks in 1920.
But instead of being a pariah, her popularity, and that of her new husband, soared as their union was greeted as a storybook marriage and they were hailed as Hollywood royalty.
They would reign from their Beverly Hills home, dubbed Pickfair, until she filed for divorce in 1933.