Saturday
Investing Therapy for a Writer
Feeling out of control? Emotions and stress starting to get you down?
Try investing.
Well, at least start reading about investing. Learning about investing has given me a constructive outlet for my anxiety and depression, and it has helped me pass the hours of sleepless nights. It may not be better then counseling to get to the root of my problems, but it's surprisingly therapeutic.
In the past, I have always turned to creative outlets to deal with my emotions. I write and I've even played guitar in a heavy metal band. I've taken art classes in figure drawing and spent many quiet hours in the park sitting on a cold bench writing even colder angst-ridden poetry.
Diving into investment books and wading through small-cap stocks, financial reports, balance sheets, dividend returns and net profit margin percentages has been a refreshing activity that seems to cool my overheated artistic side. Not only am I exercising a new part of my brain with learning new jargon and concepts, I'm also building a healthy mountain of gold at the end of this mental rainbow.
"Will I grasp that gold one day?", you might ask. Well, I know that if I write a little everyday, save it and work on it, eventually I will have a novel. Similarly, investing money a little at a time over the long-run will grow into something I'm proud of. I can't expect anyone to write the novel for me. Likewise, I can't expect a stranger to invest and take care of my money the way I would for myself. Nobody cares about my financial future more than good ol' number one: Charlotte Jolliffe.
Remember the old adage, Minions: Knowledge is power! So for the investing-inclined, go out and analyize those charts and scrutinize the finanical gurus. Read your heart out and learn, learn learn. You'll feel better when you're not so blindly ignorant. Even if you don't become the next Warren Buffet, you will reduce the anxiety and depression a little, and sometimes that's more valuable than a great portfolio.
Try investing.
Well, at least start reading about investing. Learning about investing has given me a constructive outlet for my anxiety and depression, and it has helped me pass the hours of sleepless nights. It may not be better then counseling to get to the root of my problems, but it's surprisingly therapeutic.
In the past, I have always turned to creative outlets to deal with my emotions. I write and I've even played guitar in a heavy metal band. I've taken art classes in figure drawing and spent many quiet hours in the park sitting on a cold bench writing even colder angst-ridden poetry.
Diving into investment books and wading through small-cap stocks, financial reports, balance sheets, dividend returns and net profit margin percentages has been a refreshing activity that seems to cool my overheated artistic side. Not only am I exercising a new part of my brain with learning new jargon and concepts, I'm also building a healthy mountain of gold at the end of this mental rainbow.
"Will I grasp that gold one day?", you might ask. Well, I know that if I write a little everyday, save it and work on it, eventually I will have a novel. Similarly, investing money a little at a time over the long-run will grow into something I'm proud of. I can't expect anyone to write the novel for me. Likewise, I can't expect a stranger to invest and take care of my money the way I would for myself. Nobody cares about my financial future more than good ol' number one: Charlotte Jolliffe.
Remember the old adage, Minions: Knowledge is power! So for the investing-inclined, go out and analyize those charts and scrutinize the finanical gurus. Read your heart out and learn, learn learn. You'll feel better when you're not so blindly ignorant. Even if you don't become the next Warren Buffet, you will reduce the anxiety and depression a little, and sometimes that's more valuable than a great portfolio.
Monday
Per chance to dream…
Dream
What is a dream? For me, a dream exists but it isn't real…yet. Implicit in the "yet" is the faith and unwavering belief in my ability to manifest the unseen into reality. My ultimate goal is to make what only I can see become visible to everyone else. The reason I want to manifest my dream of my novel "DemonJack" is because it ignites a fire and enthusiasm in me that I want to share with the world.
My earliest memories from childhood that still excite me today are of the heroes and villains of the fantasy worlds in comic books and animation series like "He-man","Thundercats", "Spiderman" and even "Godzilla". I felt most alive when I was genuinely consumed in the magic of my imagination. Fantasy and sci-fi environments are almost limitless in their freedom. Anything goes. When we're kids we have the right to play. We spontaneously create characters or pretend we're characters we've seen or read about. But when we get too old to play we can still enjoy good stories. I want to author a good story both young people and adults can appreciate.
What is my artistic compass? How do I decide what to write about? I don't have a name for it, but I know what it feels like. When I'm wide-eyed and a layer of joy glazes over me, all I can really say is: "Cool." Sometimes I say it in a drawn out whisper so it's more like a hushed "Coooool". Then, at that moment, I know something has touched the genuine authentic me. It's real and raw and sometimes not very adult or rational. It's just "cool". I feel as if, for a moment, I'm living in the world I create so that details emerge and a vague idea begins to flesh out and grow, and I am truly creating. I feel most of the joy I get from writing comes from feeling that I'm manifesting the unseen onto paper.
The final product of this creative process will be my novel which will be illustrated by a concept artist. I feel imagery through art and imagery through the written word have competed in the past, but, my intention is to change that paradigm. I feel art and words can have a mutually beneficial relationship. One enhances the other and doesn't, necessarily, detract from it.
Personal Poison
I believe we all have a personal poison: a part of our life that threatens to destroy our dream and our drive. Mine is a feeling of hopelessness. It sinks me like an anchor so I feel like I'm drowning in the depths of my own negative emotions. But it's important to realize that if you can recognize the poison, you have the power to stop taking it. Just by recognizing it has helped me. I'm aware of what I'm feeling and use my dream to pick me up again. The dream isn't what brings me down; it's the fear that the dream won't become realized that becomes my heaviest burden. So my antidote for my personal poison is fearlessness. When I remember why I'm so passionate about finishing my project I'm recalling the joy that inspired it in the first place. That catalyst is the foundation; it is the love for what I truly want. I am reassured in the belief that there is nothing more difficult to destroy than love.
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