For better or worse, my brain takes me through routine mental exercises, reminding me who I am and what is important. Usually, I avoid sharing this process or it’s results. Experience says that people have knee jerk reactions and this is dangerous to myself and to others. It is neither. It is a tool I use to cope with a brain that finds fault in everything I do. With that in mind, proceed with caution.
Tool Checklist
My brain runs me through a pre-flight checklist most mornings. What is our plan? How will we proceed? Do we need to involve anyone else?
It is that last question that often proves problematic. If it involves anyone outside my immediate household, I expect issues. Four-fold issues if it is my plan for which success requires other people. If this one does not trip me up, there are other questions that follow. However, the only checklist item of equal threat is, “Do I still feel excited about executing the plan?”
Creativity Threat Level Assessment
Usually, this checklist is determining how likely it is that I will partake in planned creative endeavors. Two specific threats tend to be responsible for most of the well-laid plans being derailed. First is the unforeseen family event. Read “unforeseen” as forgotten or completely unexpected. Second is the very real possibility of a “talent disengagement”. A required party has run through their own checklist and found a problem. Any number of things can happen. And the more talent needed for the creativity, the more likely someone has to bail. It happens.
My Takeaway
Left to it’s own devices, my brain will drag me down. That is why I create. That is why my brain fights my desire to create so vehemently. When I can’t pursue one creative activity, I pivot to another. All of that said, I MUST get back into the habit of taking photographs for my own well-being.
It is time to get back behind the lens for the sole purpose of play. It is time to get the necessary tool out of the box.
