Writing the Blank Page

There are days where I sit down to write this blog and I have zero topics lined up and zero ideas percolating in my brain. I scroll through the news looking for a spark of inspiration and... nothing.

I could really get hard on myself and beat myself up for coming up with nothing. I could also end up worried that people are going to think I'm weird for writing about nothing. And that would then stop me from writing which... is not the purpose of this whole process. The purpose of these blogs is for me to write. Period. With a theme that vaguely centers around "small steps".

Perhaps that is the link. Writing with a theme in mind is relatively easy. But writing without a theme... it means that I have to just start writing, one word, one sentence at a time, and see what comes out of the fingers. It's the small steps in action again. I might not have a whole blog in mind... or even a paragraph, but if I just start, then something will take form.

It's really a gift when I have a topic in mind... it makes it soooo much easier! It's all about parking downhill so things are easier. Obviously, I did not park downhill on this blog! And so I am slogging away uphill, which is hard work. I am hoping that if I get enough momentum going here, it will get easier, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.

Several years ago, I came across a blog post that talked about being a creator rather than a consumer. Those words inspired me. I wanted to become a creator... someone who writes things that other people might read and find helpful. I didn't just want to mindlessly (or intentionally) consume things without giving back.

I chose writing as my creative option, but there are many other different creative outlets out there - costume design, painting, drawing, music, calligraphy, art, gardening, photography... so many different options. And all of them have a secret... you need to do them all the time. In order to get better, in order to create... something needs to happen every day. It's the only way we get better. It's the only way we live up to our dream of being creators rather than just consumers.

And sometimes... we don't feel like it. We aren't inspired. We don't have a topic in mind. We don't feel the music in our blood. And those are the moments where we need to just start... no matter what we are feeling, just sit down (or stand up) and start. Pick up the brush, the pen, the instrument, shovel, whatever... sit down at the keyboard, the easel, the desk... and do what we do.

That small step of starting leads to other small steps which will ultimately produce something. Whether it is good enough to work with and share... only time will tell. But at least we have done what we needed to do. One small step at a time.

Lockdown Options - Consuming, Creating, Cultivating

I went to the pharmacy the other day and had to pass by Michaels which had a big sign in their window saying "Yes, We are Open". My immediate thought was... how is a craft store an essential service???

But as my partner later enlightened me... people would go crazy if they had nothing to do at home. Which makes sense. I mean, if hardware stores are an essential service, why not a craft store?

Michaels sells more than just crafts, they sell fabric as well, especially important now that our Fabric Land shut down. If people can get home repair items at a hardware store... then it makes perfect sense that they can also get clothing repair items at a craft store.

Which got me thinking... as nice as a stay-at-home order is in the short-term... kind of like an extended holiday for some... it will become insanely boring after a while. Seeing the same people... looking at the same four walls... walking the same few blocks. We don't really thrive well on sameness... I know that after two weeks of a tropical vacation, I am more than ready to come home and resume all my little projects and get back to writing. Sooo... what do we do with our time as this stay-at-home thing seems to extend indefinitely. It ain't going to go away in 2, 4 or even 6 weeks. We are in this for the long haul.

The way I see it... there are three routes available to us:

Consuming

Now that the shopping bug has finally be nipped in the bud... is consuming dead? Not being able to go to the Mall... not being able to browse for clothing or whatever... is consuming over and done with? Not really. There's always online shopping although I understand Amazon is prioritizing food deliveries... so people might have to wait for their latest tchotchke to get delivered. It's always bothered me that we are referred to as Consumers. The word "consume" doesn't really have a great connotation...

verb (used with object), con·sumed, con·sum·ing.
   to destroy or expend by use; use up.
   to eat or drink up; devour.
   to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest.
   to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully.
verb (used without object), con·sumed, con·sum·ing.
   to undergo destruction; waste away.
   to use or use up consumer goods.

Yeah, no... not such a great word. Although quite accurate for us in the First World... we do have a tendency to use up and/or devour things... more than our fair share of things too.

And let's not even talk about consuming food... the shrinks also warn against over-eating during this stay-at-home time. It's easy to slip into though because food (and alcohol) have such deep comfort-giving roots within us. I'm actually kind of surprised that the run on food in the grocery stores didn't also generate a run on the liquor stores. Clearly we all know that food is the first essential that we need (and alcohol comes later)... but how much food do we really need?

And it's not just physical consuming... there is also the consuming that happens when we sit down and binge watch four seasons of the-latest-hot-new-show on Netflix. Or start playing video games non-stop. Or binge on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc... Or even the news feeds... Binging on information... All of which is not good during this pandemic lockdown thing... or so the shrinks tell us.

I came across a blog post a few months back that really stuck with me: Be a Creator, not a Consumer. Which leads us to...

Creating
We all have a creative drive within us... whatever it might be. To create something... a song, a piece of clothing, a shed, a book, a poem, a video, a podcast, a photograph, a painting, a garden... So many different ways to create. And... obviously... there are people who consume what we have created... by listening, reading, watching, admiring, etc.

So really, there is a balance between consuming and creating... although I came across an intriguing figure the other day, the 1% Rule. Basically, when it comes to information on the internet, 99% of people are consumers and only 1% are creators. It's kind of an extreme outlier of the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule). But there are also many ways, beyond the internet, of being creative. Just take a look at Etsy... there are tonnes of people out there creating all sorts of things and selling them online.

But maybe we don't even have to sell what we create... maybe it's enough to just know that we are creating something that wasn't there before we sat down. To look back at the end of a few hours and go "There... I did that... I made that". To me, it's about making the world a slightly better place... that I push back the chaos a bit and bring order where entropy would normally rule. To gather random words and stitch them together into something that makes sense, that communicates something, that shares a bit of me or a bit of information. And perhaps it only benefits one other person... or maybe more than one. To me, that isn't really necessary... although it is nice... but at least it benefits me. The more I write, the more clear I get on life and the lessons to be learned from it. And if what I create has some beauty and flow to it... even better.

In many ways, creating is the way in which we use our innate talents and put them to use... and even build on them. We are cultivating the garden of our gifts... which leads me to...

Cultivating

We are cultivating our garden... taking the gifts of earth, sun, compost, water and seeds and bringing them together in a way that encourages nature to do what it does best... create abundance out of the tiniest starting points. It always amazes me how prolifically abundant nature is... how many seeds come out of one poppy pod or out of a dill plant... hundreds, thousands out of... one. We can help it along with compost and manure... but ultimately, we can only watch and marvel as nature takes its course... and try to keep the slugs at bay!

But there's more to cultivating than just gardening... it's all about cultivating the gifts within ourselves and others as well. If we have children, how can we cultivate them and encourage them to grow and be the best that they can be. Children learn by example... so what are we doing to cultivate our own gifts?

This is where I begin to see a distinction between consuming and cultivating... consuming is the mindless, ravenous consumption of entertainment. For what purpose? Just to consume because we are bored or... whatever. But cultivating... to me that means there is a mindful purpose behind what we are doing. Like when I am researching a blog topic and reading different articles... I am very focused on what I am looking for and how it relates to what I am creating. If I then get distracted and end up on YouTube watching a never-ending stream of funny cat videos... well... that's consuming again! Or... if I get sucked into the news feeds and end up just consuming information instead of cultivating knowledge...

Maybe now is the time to cultivate a new language or brush up on an old, rusty one. My German is kind of rusty... there must be online courses out there (for free) that I could tap into...

There are so many different options and YouTube (used mindfully) has a tonne of how-to videos out there... Maybe now is the time to learn how to bake bread or muffins. Or perhaps this is the perfect time to start digging into your family tree... Or learn how to can food...

I know this... when this whole stay-at-home lock down thing eases... I want to have something to show for it. Which is also something the shrinks are suggesting during this time - control what you can. So... in our small little piece of the world, what can we control? Where can we bring order out of the chaos? How can we make the world jut a little bit better than it was before... So that when this all ends... in a year or more... we will come out of it more connected to ourselves, others and the earth... to make it a better place for all...

And honestly... it never hurts to start a garden... even just a few pots with herbs or tomatoes. We are at the start of our growing season... the perfect time to begin...