I am a week behind the original schedule already, as I knew I would be. However, I seem to have grown up. There was a time when I would have banged my head over a missed start, but not anymore. It is okay, I reassure myself now. I can start at my own pace, so I am finally starting today.
A few weeks ago, I read an article about an artiste who decided to devote half an hour of her life, each day, to create a poster. She took inspiration from things she saw around her and created posters. She planned to do this project over a period of 365 days and somewhere along the way, she stumbled upon her style.
I was immediately influenced by the article. I decided that I wanted to do something similar. There have been many a time when I find myself being blocked by a wall, an invisible force field in my mind which I cannot seem go past. I was convinced that if I forced myself to be creative, I will somehow be able to make a dent in this wall.
Now the question was concerning what I would be doing for half an hour each day. I could learn a new language, learn how to illustrate using a new software tool, I could learn how to sketch or pick up a new skill. I quickly realized that most of the activities I came up with revolved around learning something new. I happen to be a recently financially independent graduate student. I am learning something new every single day, whether it be academic or simply some life lessons I learn from living alone in a foreign country. Maybe I needed a break from all this learning. I decided to stick to something which I like and settled on writing.
Around this time, I was approaching my 23rd birthday. I thought that my birthday would be the perfect moment to launch this new endeavor. I also needed to develop a way to sustain my motivation. I decided to post whatever I write on a blog, even if what I wrote during that day was a single line. I concluded that this external pressure would be motivation enough for me.
So here I am, seven days later than I was supposed to start , in a café in Mountain View, listening to a Bollywood song which is bizarrely being played here and embarking on my 365 day journey.
A few weeks ago, I read an article about an artiste who decided to devote half an hour of her life, each day, to create a poster. She took inspiration from things she saw around her and created posters. She planned to do this project over a period of 365 days and somewhere along the way, she stumbled upon her style.
I was immediately influenced by the article. I decided that I wanted to do something similar. There have been many a time when I find myself being blocked by a wall, an invisible force field in my mind which I cannot seem go past. I was convinced that if I forced myself to be creative, I will somehow be able to make a dent in this wall.
Now the question was concerning what I would be doing for half an hour each day. I could learn a new language, learn how to illustrate using a new software tool, I could learn how to sketch or pick up a new skill. I quickly realized that most of the activities I came up with revolved around learning something new. I happen to be a recently financially independent graduate student. I am learning something new every single day, whether it be academic or simply some life lessons I learn from living alone in a foreign country. Maybe I needed a break from all this learning. I decided to stick to something which I like and settled on writing.
Around this time, I was approaching my 23rd birthday. I thought that my birthday would be the perfect moment to launch this new endeavor. I also needed to develop a way to sustain my motivation. I decided to post whatever I write on a blog, even if what I wrote during that day was a single line. I concluded that this external pressure would be motivation enough for me.
So here I am, seven days later than I was supposed to start , in a café in Mountain View, listening to a Bollywood song which is bizarrely being played here and embarking on my 365 day journey.
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