The first time I remember truly being charged up, in terms of being held accountable for things I could absolutely control, was in the sixth grade by one of the math teachers at my elementary school. She was never my homeroom teacher, so I don't understand how I and my classmates ended up in front of her, or her in front of my classmates and me, but it happened.
Read MorePhoto courtesy of w_mat_brown.
Apathy can be one of the biggest enemies of consistency and creativity. It's weird to be creative and consistent on one hand while battling indifference and apathy on the other, but it does happen. One reason can be because life gets in the way. Another reason can be because time gets taken for granted. A third can be because it's easy to just say, "I'll get to it in a little bit." All of a sudden, "a little bit" becomes "later on" and "later on" becomes "damn, I still gotta do that, huh? Oh well, whatever," and when the latter comes, it's trouble.
Read MoreMonotony (def) – wearisome uniformity or lack of variety, as in occupation or scenery (1).
For some, the summer of 2016 has been eventful in a number of positive ways. Traveling domestic and abroad, seeing familiar faces, getting acquainted with new ones and taking in new sights provide people with new experiences and additional perspective. For others, it has been not so good with destruction, loss, and grief permeating the atmosphere.
The theme of summer 16, on this end, is business as usual. On one hand, business as usual is cool. Prepare the same, execute the same, then do it again the next day. On the other hand, it has brought a level of repetition that borders on becoming a chore for the exact same reasons that business as usual is cool. The same reasons why the summer of 16 is cool are the same reasons why the summer of 16 is boring as hell. Trying to keep a routine, while incorporating activities to bring some life to the routine and keep days from becoming mundane, is the new challenge.
Read MoreWaking up when it is still dark outside is hard. The sound of an alarm clock ringing repeatedly at 4:30 A.M., only to peer through the blinds and realize it looks exactly the same outside as it did before sleep came, can be demoralizing. The temptation is to ignore the sound of an alarm clock, and press the snooze button or outright ignore the sound of the alarm altogether, but the decision to get the day started was already made. The commitment was made to get up, and even if it was made to no one but yourself, the commitment must be kept or it doesn’t mean a damn thing.
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