022. Final Moments
Why is it that the best time to complete a series of miscellaneous tasks always comes right before an important deadline?
I have spent all day hoping some kind of inspiration would strike. Waiting for the moment my mind finds a train of thought that could form the body of this article. The time is 2300hrs, and if I wait any longer, I will not be able to make it in time for my daily deadline. With only a few minutes to spare, I must now pull from the furthest corners of my brain to try and piece together a cohesive line of thought.
Lately, my life has not been filled with much.
I wake up in the early hours of the morning to try and make it outside for my morning walk before the streets fill strange men yelling 'viens avec moi' as they drive to whatever destination they were trying to drag me along to. By the grace of God, I am able to make it back home without getting snatched up into a van. From then onwards, I try my best to avoid interaction with the outside world as I legitimately fear for my safety.
Considering how much I have grown to like the great outdoors, it is a quite heartbreaking the hesitation I feel when I am presented with the idea of venturing outside.
The hollering and the catcalling are not things that are unique to this environment. However, the audacity with which it comes, feels quite bold. If it were a few instances, then I suppose their bravery would barely be noticed. However, I have begun to lose count of such instances to the degree where it feels as though it is something ingrained in the culture. I then wonder, perhaps I lack the proper etiquette for handling such situations.
Today, I have been feeling a little uninspired and I cannot help but feel like my lack of exposure to the outside world and other people has a major role to play in all of this.
As I previously spoke about in article 017, 'creativity isn't random inspiration, it's a strategic process'. I am then tempted to argue that yes, this limited exposure might be causing a lag in creativity but, it is still something that can be overcome. Through some strategic process, creativity can be scheduled.
In university and most recently, for a university, and a job application, my submissions have been made in the final 10 minutes of the deadline.
This is not something I am truly able to justify. For the university application, I decided late that I wanted to make an attempt for this academic year with only 18 days to complete a lengthy application process. I was actually quite proud of myself when I was able to meet that deadline. If it wasn't for a system failure that added an additional day to the deadline, I definitely would not have been able to complete my application.
For the university assignments, I always felt as though we were given ample time. Yet, my brain only decided to come alive in those final moments. I fully gave into this too. Waiting for inspiration to strike and hoping I would be able to complete months' worth of course work over the period of 2-weeks. I was able to get across the finish line, but what that taught me was, just create. Even if the feeling is not there and the idea doesn't feel good enough or, just right, create. It took me nearly 3 years to act on that lesson but, I am here today trying to do just that.
With regards to the job application, for the potential that a future employer might read this article, I cannot disclose my reasoning.
It has been a full week since I pondered over the strategic process that is creativity and, I am reminded that there is much I am yet to learn. Perhaps I need to introduce some pressure and high stakes deadlines. As of yet, I am unsure. However, this is an experiment so, I will do just that – experiment, and I am sure I will find something that will work for me while I am in this peculiar new environment.
Dear reader, you're the best!!! Thank you for your time today. Thank you for sharing in this moment with me.
With that said, I can finally end my day knowing I did my best and I did all that I could. I hope you are back here tomorrow to find out if I manage to find a way to conjure up some creative inspiration.
