Yeah, I see it too. There is a volcano-hurricane-tsunami-avalanche-nomadic-death-spider-infestation of "everything stinks" going on in this world right now. Wow, it is a creativity killer! And just when you think you have the current load of terrible balanced, something new joins the nightmare party and turns up the music and strobe lights.
As a writer - and someone who is strangely terrible at lying in real life - I'm not sure I could have plotted a book with the number of motivation slaying issues going on right now. I would have needed an entire wall, like one of those murder boards the police use, to have any hope of keeping it all straight. Probably multiple walls. There is not enough string on our beautiful marble called Earth to tied it all together into the ugly package running rampant through all of our minds lately. Does that mean we just give up? Nope. Sorry. All hands, feet, and bodies need to stay in the car of this roller coaster until it comes to a complete stop. That's how life works. What we can do is pare down a bit. Start with the things that you have no control over no matter how hard you are trying to get the upper hand. While it would be completely awesome to step into a room and solve all of the world's problems, my guess is that neither of us is going to get that opportunity. Plus, if we did, we'd then be responsible for creating all new problems - again, that's how the world works. Don't give these monsters more real estate in your brain than is absolutely necessary. They will eat you alive if you do. Once you have the beasties that you honestly can't train to jump through flaming hoops and then pose for the audience shoved out of your immediate thoughts, get a list together of the ones you can. Don't expect all of them to be graceful. Don't expect them to not bite on occasion. Just get them onto a list and then look at them for what they actually are. Some might fall away because you'll either realize they aren't YOUR problem or because the problem that they are has outlived its purpose. LET THEM GO! What you are going to be left with is a set of things that you have influence over and can find a solution for. Put them in the best order you can. Maybe it's a timeline. Maybe they need to go by importance. Heck, maybe there is just a sensible order of joy they provide. You'll know how you need them to line up. With any luck you'll only have to deal with one at a time. If not, try to keep the number small so you aren't forced to multi-task in some alarming way that is guaranteed to derail you. Break each one out into manageable steps. This is important! You need to break them down into smaller parts. "Write novel" is intimidating. "Write 250 words" is doable. If you write 250 words multiple times, guess what you can have: A NOVEL. See what I'm saying here? The same works for everything from creating a household budget or baking an apple pie to planning a mission to the other side of the universe. Everything has small steps that need to be completed one at a time in order to bring it into being. Taking each small step not only brings you closer to your goal, the act of completing each one makes the ground you are walking on more solid. If you stay out of your own way, and refuse to get dragged (kicking and screaming) into obsessing about all the stuff you have no control over, that beautiful spark of YOU will have an easier time spreading its light into all the shadows. If enough people do this, how can this world NOT be a brighter place? So, breathe. Make your list. Take your first step. Light up the world.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJosie Dorans Archives
June 2022
Categories |