The Lego man and the tampon

I’ve spent the last week making many futile attempts at writing blog posts, frustrated mainly by work, family and social commitments. I worry that any break in writing, might also break my ‘flow’ and I feel the stresses of daily life are stifling my enthusiasm a little.  Most importantly I’m afraid my imagination is being trampled by work and pushed aside by my day job. Hey I’m lucky to both have a job and to be busy, I really shouldn’t complain! I have been developing a few ideas for posts and stories, but in my jumbled mind of a chaotic week, I constantly lost track of my thoughts.

How can I expect myself to be continuously creative? Are we, as adults more restricted by social boundaries and conservative thoughts than when we were children? As children we were creative for long periods of time, blissfully uninterrupted, lost in our imagination for hours with toys and props. I wonder if it’s really possible to combine a new hobby and direction with an already hectic life.

I envy my son’s imagination. He spends hours lost in his own world of Lego and Halo figures. I walked into my kitchen yesterday to discover him in the midst of a raging battle. The kitchen table was covered in a carefully thought out landscape of battalions of different characters deep in combat. There was also a group behind the toaster, a sniper hidden on top of the coffee machine, and an opposing group of Lego figures on the worktop who were crossing a bridge made between a stack of bricks and a box of Tampax.

The crossbeam of the bridge was constructed by using a tampon, under constant attack from two Lego planes swirling over it in my son’s hands, to the sound of machine guns and bombs that he is so good at making nowadays. Maybe he could teach his grandfather, a retired civil engineer, a thing or two about bridge construction!

His imagination didn’t tell him not to use a tampon, why shouldn’t he? To him it was a convenient, long sturdy item that allowed his Lego to cross between the different sections of his game. I need to point out here, that he does have a fairly accurate idea of the purpose of the tampon. He is certainly growing up well in touch with his feminine side living so closely with his mother and older sister.

A friend of mine sent me a Huffington Post article during the week entitled ‘18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently’.

“Inspiration and ideas often arise seemingly out of nowhere and then fail to show up when we most need them, and creative thinking requires complex cognition yet is completely distinct from the thinking process.”

Firstly I need to point out that I do not consider myself HIGHLY creative, but I certainly seem to tick a lot of boxes and fulfill many of the 18 different criteria set out by the article, most of my writing frustrations are caused by not being able to write when I want to, when I get the ideas.

1. They daydream. – Absolutely!
2. They observe everything. – Most definitely!
3. They work the hours that work for them. – Yes indeed, but I also work the hours that suit my kids and my customers too!
4. They take time for solitude. – As I get older, I enjoy solitude more and more!
5. They turn life’s obstacles around. – Well, you have to don’t you? I don’t see any choice here, creative or otherwise.
6. They seek out new experiences. – When possible, certainly.
7. They “fail up.” – Yes, by persisting with ideas, even though they repeatedly fail to work or excite initially.
8. They ask the big questions. – Meh… not sure this is me, while I am certainly curious, but I tend to avoid confrontation on any level, which means I think, that I avoid some topics of deep discussion, never too sure my opinions hold much validity.
9. They people-watch. – ONE OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO!
10. They take risks. – Not often, I think risk taking would appear in the ‘least favourite things’ list.
11. They view all of life as an opportunity for self-expression. – Sometimes, not always.
12. They follow their true passions. – Ah I rarely manage to do that, but when I can, I’m bloody delighted!
13. They get out of their own heads. – Suppose the daydreaming ticks this box.
14. They lose track of the time. – Always happens, and is largely to blame (along with a hectic life and much juggling) for my dodgy timekeeping.
15. They surround themselves with beauty. – I like to yes, but who doesn’t?
16. They connect the dots. – Maybe I see dots that others don’t, I need to starting asking people, “do you see the dots?”
17. They constantly shake things up. – I’m certain I know the answer to this one, no I don’t! Refer to point 8.
18. They make time for mindfulness. – I definitely need a clear and focused mind to be creative.

So as you see, the article got me fairly right. Point 18 is being stretched to its limits at the moment though by my dad’s dog’s efforts to get my attention. Snout moving between resting on my keyboard and nudging my elbow! Also I sat down with my laptop and a coffee at 9am, its now 1.30, I’m hungry and wondering where the time has gone.

I need to go… I’m late for collecting my kids and I still have to do grocery shopping… damn it! Story of my life….

Before pressing the ‘Publish’ button eventually yesterday afternoon for this post, a friend called unexpected for a coffee, I discovered my car battery was dead, (main problem here was OF COURSE I had driven into my drive the night before, not reversed in as I usually do, so to use jump leads I needed the help of a few strong guys to push the car out of the drive!) I cooked a beef curry for 6 people here last night, and sat up until 2am chatting with my lovely dad, all before eventually… getting up this morning to finish this post.

When will I ever manage to keep time for writing?! I see many future frustrations arising from lack of time and mental freedom to write, not from lack of ideas or imagination. Now back to daydreaming… the same hairy snout wants to be rubbed and tickled, before going out for lunch and some people watching, bliss…