Subscribe to RSS 2.0Things I have learned
This is not one of those face-palm, god why do I still do things wrong posts. This is a smug post, listing a few things that I have learned, and act upon, which improve my life.
Thing the first: you're going to have to repeat every task. Even when I think it's a one-off, 90% of the time I end up doing it again. This is just life. What makes it tolerable is that as a result I tend to automate, at least in part, every task I do when I do it for the first time. It's a lot less soul-destroying to revisit something if it takes a fraction of the time the second time around. It's taken me a long time to learn this lesson but it's finally sunk in.
Thing the second: feed your demons. A friend gave me a book called exactly that. It's a different approach to dealing with inner conflict - rather than repressing or disliking bits of you that are negative (anger, guilt, stress etc) you face them head on, figure out what that part of you actually wants and give it to yourself. Then the demons turn into daemons - a friendly sort of ally. I am fully aware that this reads like a load of hippy clap-trap, but it works and it's wiser than self-hate.
Thing the third: don't hold back on the coffee. Of all the vices in the world, it's not so bad.
Here endeth my list.
Comments: 2
Well said, Emma! :)
I heartily agree with Thing The Second: I'm not a religious man; I'm not even a spiritual man, but I have taken time to study the tarot which - when you remove the social misconception of tarot being a fortune-telling tool - actually makes for a rather excellent map of the human psyche. And it, too, encourages us to accept we are human, for better and for worse, and play to our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
I know I have a habit of always talking shop, but that's what I love about writing apocalyptic horror: zombies/ the apoc etc. don't change people, they merrily place a microscope on folks, put pressure on their weaknesses and force them out into the open. And it's not being able to deal with such exposure that can lead to a character fecking up, and getting killed. The characters that survive the longest are often those in full recognition of themselves - both their strengths and weaknesses.
Anyway, it's good to learn, Emma. I'm happy to admit that I've loads to learn, and a whole life to learn such :)
That sounds like a great book - what is it?
Posted by: WayneSimmons on March 16, 2011 01:44 PM
Oh, that is very interesting. You'd get on very well with my friend. The book is Feeding your Demons. I can't believe I'm about to link to a site that uses Papyrus font in its header, but here we go: http://www.feedingyourdemons.co.uk/
Posted by: Em on March 16, 2011 04:33 PM