I like getting fired up about work . I like that energy and drive I feel when i am learning something new. I like the whirlwind in my mind that is created when thoughts are coming and going and ideas are firing on all cylinders.
I like it when I don't quite know the answers. When I don't know which colour to proceed with, which joy to chase, which words to write. I like it for a while. I like it for a while because if it goes on too too long it's exhausting.
The thing about being fired up and excited about an idea is at some point you just have to act. Because action follows intention and because action brings clarity. When we act, we can often show ourselves what our real intentions are.
For example, I would love to write a mystery novel where the detective is a rug hooker and she uses her collection of hooks to pick locks. This idea came to me one day when I was walking. I can see it all. She has a friend and they both carry bags of wool and end up where they shouldn't and she solves the mysteries as she hooks the rugs. The friend is the look out while the detective hooker goes into stealth mode and entered places she should not with her handy collection of hooks.
Just telling you that story has satisfied my need to write the book. I wrote the paragraph and it's pretty much over for me. I don't really want to write a book, but I do enjoy dreaming up these ideas. How do I know I don't want to write it?
Well I know because I never do it. I never sit to do it. When I sit to write I want to write about creativity and the joy and love that cones from it. That's my vision. That's my mission. I want to read mystery novels, not write them. And that's ok. I cannot be everything. I have to choose.
Actually, better than that, I get to choose. I have this amazing privilege, like you have, like we all have, to pick and choose what ideas I want to pursue in my life. It is incredible that we get to choose, and that today we have so much more choice than our ancestors had.
My grandmother, sitting at her rug frame, was probably not considering whether or not she wanted to write a mystery novel. She was probably not even considering what she wanted to cook for supper. She was likely going to have cod fish. She did have the choice of how she would cook it.
Today, I have and you have so much choice. It can be a little dizzying. When I feel this way, the only answer I have is to act, and when I act. When I take a step forward and design the rug, or pick a colour, that clarifies things for me. Suddenly I am moving forward and I am being lead in a direction. Essentially how I act upon a decision leads me to understand what I want so I know it is important not to let myself get stalled but to act, to move forward, and this will in turn lead to more moving forward and more growth.
Just one little step at a time, one loop at a time, one colour at a time, one page at a time, that is the only way I have ever gotten anything done.
