I’ve been thinking a lot about transforming ideas into meaning. We all generate ideas. Some more than others. We collect those ideas. At times, ideas are static, flat. And then there are times they are dynamic and alive.
I love this method of transformation. Sitting around, processing the information and sending it from my brain straight into my heart and gut.
As a writer and a general “creative” person, I struggle daily with my analytical and emotional side. I dig data — but I also love creating things that cause data to populate. Gretchen Rubin wrote in “The Happiness Project” that she needs gold stars on a board to signal and quantify her accomplishments. I’m the same way. Good, quantifiable data is my gold star.
Why am I not in a research field? That’s a good question. I honestly had no idea I’d ever want to be a researcher. Looking back, there was also not a lot of family encouragement to look at fields other than the traditional MRS everyone wanted.
My fear of failure also holds me back to seeing many of these ideas come to fruition and I’m working so very hard to acknowledge that feeling and move right on past it. Fear of failure causes perfectionism, which causes procrastination. The sum of all of these put together consumes you and you freeze, not being able to move past and do what you’re supposed to do.
Remember a few posts back when I mentioned I was making intentional mistakes? Same thing applies here. As much as I like to see that quantifiable data, the gold stars, I have to make some mistakes during the process to remind me I’m human.
Robert McKee said “Stories are the currency of human relationships.” That’s what I’m doing here, sharing my story, hoping it’s meaningful, and in return, I hope you find some sort of kinship reading what I’m writing. Maybe leave a comment — that’s the gold star of the blogging world.
