JUST – DOOOOOOO – IT …
Has anybody else watched Shia Lebeouf’s infamous youtube rant? The one in which he bellows, grunts and roars like a grizzly bear for five minutes in an attempt to motivate and inspire his audience?
I’m not sure if it’s actually motivational in itself, or whether it’s just goddamn flipping hilarious, and sticks in the mind because of that.
I’m not sure that watching it actually inspired me to get up off the sofa and go for a run, or do anything which required a little bit of oomph, or discipline and determination to complete. It just made me giggle for five minutes, and wonder about what meds he might be taking.
However.. after saying all that; I do now find that when I am in a certain mood, and a certain state of lazy and mindless apathetic funk, roaring the phrase “just DOOO it” at myself internally does provoke a suitable reaction of acknowledgement. Like a part of me goes “ok.. yep- I know, I know…”
Right now I am at Ru’s, sitting on his bed and surrounded by books and magazines. He is flitting about, and my phone is lying innocuously next to me.. the pc is to my left, and I know that there’s a sketch pad and a set of pencils lying around somewhere. I guess what I am trying to stress is that there are so many distractions for me right now!
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there are literally a million and one different thing which I want to do right now, and a million and one different potential ways to fill my time.
I want to carry on with my self help book, I want to publish some poetry on the poetry forum, I want to check out AbsoluteWriters Forum, I want to start some illustrations for my book, I want to read Writers Monthly, I want to start a journal, I want to read some Sylvia Plath, I want to play skyrim.. and I will leave it at there before I start onto the things which cannot be said to be productive on any level or are, by any stretch of the imagination, a pointful usage of my time.
It isn’t bad, really, that I have so many things which I want to be doing.. I think it’s just frustrating my slightly because it’s dividing my focus and dividing my attention. I feel like my mind is in about ten different places at once, and I’m not channelling all of my energy into my present work.
Whilst I am writing- I am wondering about the Poetry forum (which I just signed up to). Then I start thinking about how I could put together a composition which could effectively illustrate mental illness as a concept, and then I start thinking about chocolate and praline chocolate fingers.
I’m having a distracted day, or a distracted afternoon- is, I guess, the easiest way to sum this funk up. But, even as I acknowledge that fact, I hear strains and echos of Shia Lebeouf ring through my mind.. Just DOOO it… and I realise that acknowledgement isn’t enough, I want to overcome this lack of focus.
I guess I’m already doing something positive, and something which contributes to this, in that I am writing a blog post about it, rather than sitting on Instagram or Facebook and mindlessly scrolling through updates whilst biting my fingernails and mentally reviewing the last netflix series I watched.
At least I am producing something worthwhile right now, at least I am channelling my frustration and my distraction into something which is useful and tangible.
I think the key thing is, when I am feeling like this, is to step away from the laptop for five minutes. Move away, go downstairs, chat to Ru or his mum, make a cup of tea; take five or ten minutes and do something which is careless and distracted. I am feeling this way, so I should allow those feelings to guide me for a short time in order to exercise them and decrease their potency a little bit.
In that time I am also working out what to focus upon- because that is really the main thing that is happening here- I can’t decide what to focus my attention and my energies upon, and that indecision and uncertainty is making me feel grumpy. It’s making me want to curl up and take a nap, or smoke, or eat twenty chocolate biscuits.
Once this mood has set in it’s hard to kick, I think, and so nipping it in the bud before it morphs into full blown time wastage is important if you actually want to do something productive with your time.
But- I have now written an 800 word post- which is good because half an hour ago I was considering chocolate digestives and day time television as a distraction from actually figuring out which useful past-time I could pursue for the remainder of the afternoon.
I’m still distracted, and Ru is now lying next to me so I’m not sure how much serious writing I’ll be getting done this afternoon; but at least I managed to write this post. That is something, at least.. Shia Lebeouf makes a good point, when he roars “just do it...” I guess my main problem right now is that I am petulantly wondering-
“…just do WHAT?!…”
Mad new world 
I thought the “what” was what you were supposed to be writing.
… I’ll get my coat.
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It is.. I know that really.. I’m just wallowing in my funk and then writing about it because it’s easier than focusing.! Thank you for message 🙂 I haven’t spoken to you for a while. Hope everything is good over on your end. I feel like I am going through a strange phase of inactivity and inertia.. but it’s quite enjoyable on some strange level. I reeeeally want to finish this book, I’m just struggling to muster the determination. I know I will, eventually, but… meh. You know, just meh.!. How’s stuff with you going? xx
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ALSO- do you know how on earth I can get my poetry menu tab to actually link with the poetry I write, so how do I get the poems I write to go into that section. Is annoying the feck out of me..
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The menu links are links to categories.
So: if you have a poem, you’ll want to categorize it (not tag it) under Poems or Poetry or whatever.
That way you will find all your poems there, all your blog posts elsewhere.
It took me YEARS to learn this!!
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Thanks.. I think we managed to work it out 🙂 very exciting!
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There’s a lot to blogging that isn’t obvious, and is made harder by people who’ve worked with it all their life… know nothing else… and so have no idea that what they do is so hard!
I note that there’s a poem from October last year 😉
There’s another neat little thing called a “more” tab. You’ll find it in the menu and it splits your blog into two – in the way mine are. It means a reader can browse through the posts but only sees the first paragraph or so. They’ll see four posts in the space that one takes. It makes for easier reading.
I guess you’re using the new editor? (The slow, clunky and less well organized one that WordPress stated was an improvement?) To those who can’t blog, a poorer interface means nothing; to someone who is interested in these things it left me wondering what it was that they had improved…
… everything about the old interface was better.
… it’s like the Yosemite operating system for Mac; it’s nowhere near as good as the old Lion. I guess the CIA couldn’t spy on you with Lion…
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Lol no they couldn’t.. I’m still getting my head round it. Though still can’t work out how to get it so you don’t see all of my blog, but only an excerpt and then the reader needs to click on “read more” to actually read the whole post. Any thoughts would be gratefully received!
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Ok.. I think we got it all figured out. My page looks very different now and it’s to a place I like, so I am satisfied. That’s an itch I’ve been wanting to scratch for a really long time. Hehe which poem do you mean- your ring?! It’s a good one, in fact I have quite a few poems dedicated to the wonderful man sitting opposite me right now.. he kinda inspires good words you know? Anyway, keep in touch. I’ll have a skip through your blog today and see where you’ve been! xx
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Hi,
You can do anything you put your mind to, just need to put your mind to it!
From
Ru
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