Every time I come to write a monthly mindscape I’m reminded how quickly the months are flying by - how on earth are we at the end of August already?
This means Blue Jay of Happiness has been up and running for over half a year (and that I’ve been blogging for nine years, but let’s skip over that fact shall we…).
Deciding to stop blogging at To Limbo and Beyond and starting afresh here has been the best decision of my blogging ‘career’.
When the right idea comes, it has a tendency to naw at you until you give in.
I actually had the name and idea for Blue Jay of Happiness for a couple of years before taking any action. It wasn’t until a girls weekend in Devon when I heard all of my friends talking about things they were making happen that I was inspired and found the courage to say goodbye to Limbo and hello to Happiness. Quite poetic huh?
Anyway, we’re here for fiction and interestingly the icons from this month’s roll of the story dice could tie in quite nicely with the theme of ideas hitting at the right time… let’s see what happens! I’ll be honest, it’s 9:00 pm as I’m writing this and I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to try and keep this one super short so I can get my butt to bed.*
*editor’s note, it’s not super short. I’m apparently incapable.
Lettering by Jess Levitz
Monthly mindscape - August
Another grey day stretched out in front of her. Picking an outfit for work filled her soul with sadness. The dress policy is all about dull tailoring with no wiggle room for even an innocent skinny jean. What had denim ever done to them?
She picked an inoffensive shirt and trouser combination and thought about what her day had in store. There would be phone calls. There would be emails. And oh God, there would be meetings. So many meetings. She had never been at a company that talked about doing work more than actually doing work before.
On the train she listened to her favourite podcast about starting your own business. Listening to these women light up when they spoke about their passions gave her hope. Nestled in the back of her mind was an idea. Well, the seed of an idea at least. Something she would need to water, nurture and grow into an idea one day.
Well, that’s what she tells everyone. One day. One day the inspiration and motivation will hit her like some universal explosion of energy and she’ll find the courage to hand in her notice and turn that seed into a huge, mother-fucking money-making beanstalk.
“A mother-fucking money-making beanstalk?” her friend replied to her, with a raised eyebrow and mug of coffee to her lips.
“Yes, a mother-fucking money-making beanstalk!” she repeated.
Her friend offered a weary look and took a deep breath.
“Hun, you know I love you to bits right? I’ve got to be real with you right now though. You know that universal force you’re waiting for? The one that’s going to give you the motivation to turn your idea seed into a God damn beanstalk? It’s never going to happen.”
“Uhh, wha… what do you mean?”
“You are sitting on that energy explosion. You’re stifling it, snuffing it out. Every time you procrastinate, put off actually doing the work because you’re waiting for inspiration to strike… you’re pissing all over the universe.”
She listened to her friend in both shock and awe. Everyone else who had listened to her mother-fucking money-making beanstalk speech had been supportive, they smiled and nodded along. Her friend paused for reaction then continued.
“If you want to turn your idea into something real, you’ve got to stop making excuses and just sit down and start. You don’t have to have it all figured out right away, but for God’s sake, please just start, K? I love you.”
Dumbfounded, but enamoured with her friend’s brutal honesty she replied, “Thank you.” gave her a hug and pulled out her laptop.
Sitting at her laptop, she wept with relief. She surrounded herself with her fears, hopes and half-finished post-it-note ideas and smiled.
“All right then universe. Let’s do this.”
“If you want to turn your idea into something real, you’ve got to stop making excuses and just sit down and start. You don’t have to have it all figured out right away, but for God’s sake, please just start, K?”
THIS. YES. <3
Haha - I think I need to print this off and put it on my desk as a reminder!! x