As February passed I didn’t feel quite like writing something for my blog. You see: I knew very early in January that my next blog piece would be about new year’s resolutions and how most people don’t have their goals set in stone and follow through after 1-2 months.
But I think enough is written about this. And I don’t want to make this blog be about general things. I want to talk about topics that I like.
So today I will write shortly about what I’ve been doing the last month and how everything I will do this year fits into my Year Theme.
My personal theme this year is Future fit. It is situated in the area of mental and physical health.
It is a year where I explore different things to improve both topics. I explore/research topics like food, physical movement and attitude. Just to see what I like and implement those into my life. But I also work on my future. I want to make writing/making stories so big in my life it can pay the bills. I am showing bits of this on the web, but it’s not something I frequently talk about with people. Which can be considered strange if you consider it is an integral part of my being.
I recently started the Masterclass of Neil Gaiman on The art of Storytelling. The second chapter has an exercise which deals with this very issue. So as part of my coming out as a writer and being Future Fit, I will share this with you.
The goal of this exercise is to practice honesty in writing. To show more then you are comfortable showing. There are 4 prompts to choose from, I chose this one: A secret that you are afraid to talk about.
Secret: Of dragons and spaceships.
When you would ask me: What is a secret that you are afraid to talk about I would have to think. The goal of this exercise is to be a little bit more honest than usual. So my choice would be: my writing. You see, it is not a secret. But it is also not something that I tell everyone when we talk about life. It’s just there, as a part of my life. And it’s just a part of me as playing volleyball and work and cook nice food. It just is a topic that is out of most people’s spectrum so it is almost never brought up. People ask each other about life in general (how are you) or work (how/where do you work), but we almost never get to the point where I naturally say: “I’m writing a story. One that will inspire people. One that shows them you need to make the big choices in your life. Even if you cannot see where it leads.”
It’s not that I’m bad at small talk, I think I’m just to aware of time and that my conversation partner and myself will probably never get to the good stuff. That place and time where you talk about personal goals and what that little dot on the horizon is. And there is also that little voice of judgement that says: “You can’t say you think in dragons, magic and spaceships. Who says that? That’s silly! People will look at you if you’re crazy.”
And the truth is: I am crazy. About dragons, magic and spaceships. And it does not really matter what others think, because it is a part of me.
So the next time you meet me, indulge me for a bit. I know the conversation would be a little different then what you expect, but it will be most rewarding.