A New Start
I've been on a bit of a hiatus on my project* since roughly my last entry. This time rather than a quick out-of-control binge, it was a slow slide. First, a little cheating (Facebook for 5 minutes, what's the harm?), then a lot of cheating (Tumblr for 1 hour in the morning; I'm too tired for anything else), then excuses (it's Christmas Eve and I really want to watch "The Muppet Christmas Carole"), finally a full surrender to temporary defeat (I'll start again on New Year's Day).
I didn't want to admit my failure here. I have read a lot of blogs and books about projects and programs that people engage in: Project 333, the Konmari method, not buying anything projects, 365 art projects, the Mins game from The Minimalists, Whole 30, Couch to 5K.** I've even done a few of these projects, some more successfully than others. I rarely see the people who started these projects blogging about totally losing their grip on the project within the first month. So it's embarrassing, I guess, but there you are.
Still, even amid the failure of the project in the short-term, I have realized something about this project. It is not a gimmick, and it is bigger than this month. This project is the first step in a major life change that I want to make. I want to create more than I consume, and I want to do that for the rest of my life, as long as I am able to create. Because I don't know how long the rest of my life will be or how long I will be healthy enough to engage in my chosen creative pursuits. No one knows. So since I want to make this change for the rest of my life, it would be silly to quit or despair over having some bumps in the road in the first month. I had a hard time going vegan for the first 6 months***, but I managed that. I do have willpower in me when I find a reason to exert it.
Therefore, I'm using the cheerful gateway of January 1st - the totally arbitrary and yet wonderfully magical first day of the new year - to spur me on to continuing my project at full speed. I'm back on the boat of Project 75/25, and I'm going to keep the full ratio for the month of January, and then evaluate if any changes to the ratio need to be made at the end of the month.
Because here's the thing: this project is hard. Try it for a week and you'll see how long it takes to earn one TV show, let alone a movie, and all that while you're shunning social media and not reading your books unless you have a short break at work.**** It may be that I'll change my ratio in February. But for now I want that shock to the system back. I want to see how much I can create in January.
I'm also starting a complementary project in January - a 365 Art Project. Every day in 2018 I'm going to create a piece of art (visual, performance, written) around the theme of Love. It can be any kind of love - romantic, familial, platonic, erotic, even love of country or love of my morning coffee. It could be a quick crayon drawing or a short story. But every day I have to make a new piece and record it or save it somehow. I'm not necessarily going to share all of them, however. I think I need to create in the dark for a while and regain my confidence.
At any rate, new year, new start to the project. Every day is a new start, but I've always been a sucker for the power of New Year's Day.
*The project again, 75/25 Create Consume, aiming to create content at 3x the rate I consume it. Initial entry here: http://7525createconsume.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-project.html
**For the record I've successfully done 3 seasons of Project 333 and am not 100% compliant at the moment, but could easily get there with an hour of putting my clothes in order again; I started but didn't finish the Konmari method, but what I completed did help me a lot; I've never done a not buying anything project though I've briefly refrained from buying certain categories of things and we've been on a mega-budget since moving to Madison; I mostly completed a 365 photo project last year (by mostly, there were days I missed a photo and subbed in a photo from the following day, but most days were covered and 365 photos were displayed); I've played the Mins game but I started it right after I'd already gotten rid of tons of things without a game so I didn't make it the whole month; I honestly think people who can complete Whole 30 are mutants because even though I'm a vegan it sounds impossible - but hey, I suppose it's the way everyone ate at one time, maybe I'm the mutant; I made a pathetic effort once to complete a Couch to 5K and this year I've designed my own exercise project which we'll see how it goes. ;)
***Going off dairy (especially cheese) sucked at first, but now I don't even like the taste of dairy, especially dairy cheese. Go figure.
****I have the new Stephen and Owen King book "Sleeping Beauties" out from the library. If ever there was a temptation, there it is. But then I think about Stephen King and how he says in "On Writing" that if you want to be a writer you need to write for an hour a day minimum and I imagine Stephen King frowning at me for reading his book in all my spare time instead of writing something myself.
I didn't want to admit my failure here. I have read a lot of blogs and books about projects and programs that people engage in: Project 333, the Konmari method, not buying anything projects, 365 art projects, the Mins game from The Minimalists, Whole 30, Couch to 5K.** I've even done a few of these projects, some more successfully than others. I rarely see the people who started these projects blogging about totally losing their grip on the project within the first month. So it's embarrassing, I guess, but there you are.
Still, even amid the failure of the project in the short-term, I have realized something about this project. It is not a gimmick, and it is bigger than this month. This project is the first step in a major life change that I want to make. I want to create more than I consume, and I want to do that for the rest of my life, as long as I am able to create. Because I don't know how long the rest of my life will be or how long I will be healthy enough to engage in my chosen creative pursuits. No one knows. So since I want to make this change for the rest of my life, it would be silly to quit or despair over having some bumps in the road in the first month. I had a hard time going vegan for the first 6 months***, but I managed that. I do have willpower in me when I find a reason to exert it.
Therefore, I'm using the cheerful gateway of January 1st - the totally arbitrary and yet wonderfully magical first day of the new year - to spur me on to continuing my project at full speed. I'm back on the boat of Project 75/25, and I'm going to keep the full ratio for the month of January, and then evaluate if any changes to the ratio need to be made at the end of the month.
Because here's the thing: this project is hard. Try it for a week and you'll see how long it takes to earn one TV show, let alone a movie, and all that while you're shunning social media and not reading your books unless you have a short break at work.**** It may be that I'll change my ratio in February. But for now I want that shock to the system back. I want to see how much I can create in January.
I'm also starting a complementary project in January - a 365 Art Project. Every day in 2018 I'm going to create a piece of art (visual, performance, written) around the theme of Love. It can be any kind of love - romantic, familial, platonic, erotic, even love of country or love of my morning coffee. It could be a quick crayon drawing or a short story. But every day I have to make a new piece and record it or save it somehow. I'm not necessarily going to share all of them, however. I think I need to create in the dark for a while and regain my confidence.
 |
| 1/365 Detail from Scribbled Out Love Letter #1 |
At any rate, new year, new start to the project. Every day is a new start, but I've always been a sucker for the power of New Year's Day.
*The project again, 75/25 Create Consume, aiming to create content at 3x the rate I consume it. Initial entry here: http://7525createconsume.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-project.html
**For the record I've successfully done 3 seasons of Project 333 and am not 100% compliant at the moment, but could easily get there with an hour of putting my clothes in order again; I started but didn't finish the Konmari method, but what I completed did help me a lot; I've never done a not buying anything project though I've briefly refrained from buying certain categories of things and we've been on a mega-budget since moving to Madison; I mostly completed a 365 photo project last year (by mostly, there were days I missed a photo and subbed in a photo from the following day, but most days were covered and 365 photos were displayed); I've played the Mins game but I started it right after I'd already gotten rid of tons of things without a game so I didn't make it the whole month; I honestly think people who can complete Whole 30 are mutants because even though I'm a vegan it sounds impossible - but hey, I suppose it's the way everyone ate at one time, maybe I'm the mutant; I made a pathetic effort once to complete a Couch to 5K and this year I've designed my own exercise project which we'll see how it goes. ;)
***Going off dairy (especially cheese) sucked at first, but now I don't even like the taste of dairy, especially dairy cheese. Go figure.
****I have the new Stephen and Owen King book "Sleeping Beauties" out from the library. If ever there was a temptation, there it is. But then I think about Stephen King and how he says in "On Writing" that if you want to be a writer you need to write for an hour a day minimum and I imagine Stephen King frowning at me for reading his book in all my spare time instead of writing something myself.
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