Avoidance

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I would rather die than not write.  I would rather do anything in the world than write.  It is a conundrum.

The best way to circumvent the conundrum altogether is by marvelous, ever-faithful, ever foolproof –

AVOIDANCE

So what constitutes avoidance, true avoidance, in this day and age of seemingly non-stop stimuli designed to hold our focus for the magical 90 seconds?  Well, just about anything I discovered.  There are infinite clever paths, remarkable in complexity, extraordinary in sheer simplicity.  Hilarious to observe objectively, and in others – so easy there!  Stop me when I get to your favorite:

Living in others’ books, hiding out, living in others’ lives, catatonia (with or without the cat),

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running away to find that perfect locale where your true life can finally begin, hunting for that perfect mate who will give your life real meaning (I just had a typo here by writing “lie” instead of “life” … let’s not analyze that too much shall we?), getting married, moving, moving again, getting a job, having children, entering and staying in school for a decade, getting another job, a promotion, fired, divorced, getting remarried, moving, moving again … have we reached it yet?

For me, if I had to pick the most soul-crushing, most devious trap of all, it is far and away ‘the day job.’  Beat to death in my last post, but still.  I’m just sayin’.  

So what to do?  I could go on and on here in a rant about discipline, strategy, tricks and exercises.  But if I’m really honest I must acknowledge that one great man with two tiny words already said it all.  Stop it.  Just stop it.  Go check out Bob Newhart’s “Stop It” skit if you haven’t seen it already.  Really – sage advice and applicable to just about everything – including avoidance!  Follow the YouTube link here to watch.  youtube.com

Now - stop it.  Go write a post, a fun literary email to somebody who would understand what you’re doing, write a page of free association (just don’t read it after – scary stuff), jot down an idea that magically emerged on a hike, in a waking moment.  Write it down.  Put a check-mark through whatever it was.  You did it.  You did something.  You accomplished something you wouldn’t have.  Don’t you feel better?  Now the best part, we get to go have wine and chocolate and BBC television – yay!

Next up, a smooth-move segue from here to things that may actually help – it’s in the title after all – the march of the self help books is coming! 

Please check out the Book Reviews Page beginning this week.