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2026 > That Heater You’re On? It’s Going To End. (And it’s going to be ok…)
That Heater You’re On? It’s Going To End. (And it’s going to be ok…)
By Jason Long
22 Apr 2026
That Heater You’re On? It’s Going To End. (And it’s going to be ok…)
October 2025-late January 2026 suuuuuucked for me. Sick family members, work overwhelm, nothing creative was advancing. So I cut all my longish-past-the-shoulder hair off one day in the midst of the cold dark winter. My ten year old boy popped his head in the bathroom, saw me sitting on a chair in our standing shower with my COVID clippers, and asked rather flatly, “Why are you doing that?”
And I fired back, with zero hesitation, “Because, son, my hair is cursed.” I’ll get back to this in a minute, but I was a hundred percent correct.
Long hair man? I was. I do some acting in Calgary, film-tv stuff, day player roles, like Frightened Inmate #4 or Sexy Succubus #8, you know the drill. I love it and I appreciate the experience and the pay cheque and catering. Historically, if I get cast in anything, it’s usually as some form of creep. What can I say, I have that type of… everything?
But we do a lot of westerns here, so, I grew out my hair and a beard a few years back, and suddenly I was getting cast as Western Creep! The difference? I’d usually die in scene 2 instead of scene 1. But I was booking more, that was patently obvious.
Western Creep cash be damned, the hair needed to go 3 months back, and within a day or two of the shedding, it came back. Creative joy. I got hot with it and I went on a relentless pace for 2–2 ½ months.
Two feature film grant applications for first draft money, done. A first draft one act play that turned into a two act play, slam dunk. Short script rewrite, found the producers for it. Abandoned comedy pilot blossomed and burning bright now as a first draft feature. Not to mention still doing my teachy job grading 90 plus short film scripts and working with my close friend and Calgary comedy legend, Cory Mack (The Guv’nr of Giv’nr), on several of her fabulous creative missives.
And I no longer felt guilty about my hot streak. No longer kept quiet, hung back, and said nothing when other creatives would speak to me of their creative struggles. Instead I would shout off the mountain top, so they could all hear me, “I’M ON THE HEATER OF MY LIFE, IT’S GOING TO END ONE DAY, AND I’M ENJOYING AND RESPECTING AND EXPRESSING GRATITUDE FOR IT EVERY DAY! AND ONE DAY IT’LL CLICK FOR YOU SO BE READY!”
April 19, 2026, 4:37 pm-ish mountain Calgary whatever time. IT. BURNED. OUT. Not a bang, not an incident, not a meltdown, just took a look around and went, “Feels different today.”
Here’s the positive lesson part: I know it will come back. I’m too old now to deny it, to fight it, to force it. It’s not like I’ve shut off my creative spout, but, I’m recognizing some things…
I’m tired. I’m foggy. I’m distracted. I’m a bit irritable. I’m low vibes. And it’s okay.
I know it will come back.
Maybe I need another scalp shearing. Or mix in some exercise or a vegetable with dinner. Meditate more, watch less SCTV (But it’s all on the platform that rhythms with Zamazon Mime now, guys!! All of it! Even if most of the awesome licensed music that was the soundtrack to my childhood had to be replaced because capitalism!)
Instead of the wallowing in the sadness and trying to will that heater to return, I’m instead going to stay in that state of gratitude, because of what I accomplished during that time. For setting myself up and producing gold when I was hot and scorching and it was absolutely shooting out of me at will. Because of those weeks, a whole bunch of my projects will take root come the summer and fall.
The Universe has its own timeline, gang. And we don’t get an advance copy. Stay open, stay ready for when a spark ignites. But in the meantime, eat a stir fry and watch The Sammy Maudlin Show (No one under 45 will get that. I’m at peace with it.)
Written by Jason Long
2026 #WW Laureate
