A lot of psychology is biology and I know a fair bit in that field. One course I took, Animal behavior, was a strong introduction to the subject. In this post, I will write about what I think of as obsession. I think I follow
the basic definition Google offered at the top of its search window:
an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.
plural noun: obsessions
"he was in the grip of an obsession he was powerless to resist"
synonyms: fixation, ruling/consuming passion, passion, mania, idée fixe, compulsion, preoccupation, infatuation, addiction, fetish, craze, hobbyhorse;
but I want it clear I make no claim to the psychological definition of the word and that I find the casual use of 'OCD' to be annoying.
I recently wrote to a friend about our obsessions. He put himself on a strict diet for two weeks to see what would happen and one result was
he dreamed and lusted for the wondrous food he would eat after the two weeks had passed. In 2015, I gave myself the goal of running 183 times in the year. I, uh, like talking about the thing I was obsessed with; that can't be a surprise, but it really isn't a subject relevant to this blog. I'm still going to write about it, but I posted it in the 'read more' or 'under the fold' area. If you want, you can find it there.
The point of the longish story below is that I set goals and stuck to them pretty well, even though I didn't really enjoy them. Or I enjoyed them but also found them exhausting and irritating. My friend, struggled through his labour and doubtless enjoyed seeing his weight drop and feeling physically better even though it presented a physical struggle.
I have a blog post from Asana open. It is called
Working from home? Here’s how to stay on task. I really should read it. I'm good at finding such articles, and I read many of them. Reading is good.
It would be much freakin' better if I convinced myself to follow such articles!
In the eighties and early nineties, I watched
Prisoner of Gravity, as TVO show about science fiction and fantasy books and movies. In season four and five, there were episodes with advice for writers. One point I remember from those episodes was the advice, 'If you can find something else to do, then do that instead'. You needed to be obsessive and driven to write for it to work.
I have a job. I'm an ESL teacher and I work to make the subject interesting to my students, many of whom are there chiefly because they have to be. I have large periods of time off and I always plan to revamp my teaching and try new ways. And I do, I still think I am a good teacher, but not nearly as much as I could.
I started this blog to document my research into creativity and to understand how to do and how to teach it. I definitely know enough that I should be a creative person now. And when I have a problem, I use creative methods to find a solution. But I am not producing much, if any, more than I did when I began at Creativiti Project.
So, here are more than fifteen hundred words about writing that aren't directed at the story I have been trying to write for the past few months. It seems that I need to trick myself to write.
I am creative. I need to be obsessive.
I love Grant Snider's comics and
this one seems a relevant. I have shrunk it here, follow the link for the full size version or ways to buy it. I added the red circle:
I either need no other work or I need other work I want to avoid. Actually, I would probably avoid both.
