A shifting imagination

Ten years ago I was convinced I’d never tire of using my imagination as the vehicle for extended voyages into self-made realms of fantasy and science fiction. Ten years ago I was still actively trying to find time to roleplay with my friends.

Now my dice are in a drawer somewhere and my books are in boxes. I will still read a good novel or watch a good movie, but I haven’t created storylines on my own for some time. My passion as a builder of worlds, an architect of cities, a proxy of peoples, and a conveyor of intrigue seems to have waned.

This is frustratingly evident in my lack of energy and enthusiasm for playing with the kids when they want to create and build and explore. I try to muster interest but my mind is soon drifting on to the intellectually stimulating challenges I face at work.

And herein lies the primary issue: the juju for my imagination has changed. My intellect is getting high on the complex problems and the heady potential of the team.

While this cool in many ways I can’t help but feel that it’s also limiting in the long run. At work I don’t have the same sense of raw creative power that I do when I’m creating worlds and where my only boundaries are the edges of my consciousness.

Observations from a bus – 4

Today I feel like a traveler. The memories of first days riding buses of trains in foreign counties is strong.

Whenever I travel I always try to imagine how my fellow passengers, the locals, are experiencing their day. For me the bus or train is new, for them mundane. I watch the world go by with rapt attention, they read the paper, look at their phones, or listen to music and stare into the middle distance.

Now that I’m a local, I wonder how I’ll experience the ride in a few months or a year. I’m already staring at my phone instead of watching the world…

Observations from a bus – 3

Okay, the express is wicked fast. 45 minutes on average so far. Hours of my life are being returned to me. Hours I can spend with my family.

Transition

It’s been a long week of large changes and big adjustments. Change is my modus operandi but I am still feeling the magnitude of this move to the new role/new location/new organization/new team. I think I’ve built up enough momentum to achieve escape velocity from my old role so I can focus on the new one. I know I’ll need the momentum for the work ahead. Much to be done. Much to be excited about. Much to be prepared for.

Observations from a bus – 2

Most of them are individual smudges of color against a monotone background–except for those who are closest: of them every detail, every decision and its consequence, every choice and accident is writ on their being. Each is just like me and yet so profoundly different.