Ridiculous sounding, I know. But last night I was chatting at my guy (I say chatting “at” because I usually just text him long strings of random thoughts when I start missing him too much). That’s a whole different insight. Laser Dot Matrix Paper. Back to it.
Remember Laser Dot Matrix Paper? And Zebra Stripe Gum? Stripes were in.
Most of you can readily picture this paper, I’m assuming. However if you cannot, and you are lucky to have entered the working world post “weirdly large, striped, dot matrix” paper, congrats! You missed a somewhat satisfying aggravation and a lot of folding and pulling off edges. Like when you try to tear out the coloring book pages? Like that. There were some raggedy reports out there.
The green and white striped paper. I kinda want to know why it had to be striped, why couldn’t it just be white paper? But I don’t feel like going off on that trail at the moment. Maybe later.
Point? Comfort Keeps Us From Building New Skills
Anyway. Once people started using printer paper as we know it today, there were a few people who clung to the old way of doing things. For example. The stripes were helpful in the area of Finance because it gave some natural breaks to the numbers/lines. Some people came to enjoy the process of using that hideous paper because it was familiar and comfortable.
Some people get attached to the nostalgia of how they learned how to do something they care about doing.
My Intention: Try Out New Things
This is how I feel about writing. I have all these projects going. And I go back to the basics of how I started. I want to write things out on notebook paper. I want to make binders and folders and excel spreadsheets. I want to learn about 800 things at one time and create mountains of notebooks of study. I get wrapped up in the process of writing and do less actual writing. Then I have thousands of pages of stories and no organization somehow.
So…I’m not really exactly like laser dot matrix paper…(Ok, was the word laser really in there at all? I’m not sure. But I am anti-research while typing and anti-editing while typing…so here we are).
Ahem. I am forming an intention to stop focusing on having to “make a living” to support my love of storytelling. To stop top focusing on being “good enough.” To stop focusing on being perfect and knowing how to do all the things. I will focus on doing what I want to do in balance with what I have to do and we’ll see what happens at the end!
My Advice :
Give yourself an hour of no demands. Longer if you can swing it.
Set a timer for 60 minutes and give yourself permission to completely stop adulting tasks for that 60 minutes. Turn off your responsibility stream and let your mind guide you to what you need for creative and emotional release. Maybe you’ll doodle in a notebook. Maybe you’ll read in bed. Maybe you’ll go for a walk. Maybe you’ll take a nap.
That’s what I like about my advice. I don’t always take my own advice, but taking an hour of quiet time to yourself is literally the easiest way to boost your energy. And having some completely “down” time is important for your mental health. So you are basically at the gym for your mind.