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Do it. Work

Rick LePage is a photographer, writer, editor and publisher based in La Grande, Oregon. A little-known person whose link to this post has just come across in the blog of a more famous person. But what matters more than anyone’s fame is the mood conveyed to them, which some friends, acquaintances and strangers, have shared in recent weeks. Hang on, dear. Make your mind work again.

Good sleep is a difficult occupation these days. This is understandable given the pandemic, with restrictions and quarantine and the attendant fears and anxieties. There are more drinks, less physical activity, and anger and frustration often come to the fore in my mind. Add the coarse polarization of our society today, and all this is all too exhausting, but this is not the exhaustion that contributes to sleep.

Honestly, it's hard for everyone to fight. For some reason, Monday is like Tuesday, which is like last Thursday or Sunday. I cannot - and I am not trying - to remember what happened then.

Last night, during a bout of insomnia, I was shocked by a sharp thought. Although, rather, it was a team:

"Make your mind work again."

I thought about this for about an hour, considering the outline of the phrase. I know the literal meaning of the words “make your mind work,” but the path was not obvious to me. I have things to do, projects that I'm working on, and I'm trying my best to complete them. This is the rest of the crap tangled underfoot, complicating their implementation.

A day later, on a hunch, I read an interview with Jerry Seinfeld in the New York Times. It was interesting reading, but I was immediately struck by what he said about how he overcomes isolation:

« - . , . . . . : . , . – . ».

What Seinfeld so clearly formulated is what my brain told me that night: get out and do your thing.

It is difficult, and it must be difficult. Otherwise it can not be. Try to cope with the interference as soon as you can by doing what you have to do. Not necessarily these projects, but something that you feel you should do.

The word that I have missed in the phrase, "make your mind work again" was " his ." This little word was a confession and a rebuke. There are things that I can change in my world, no matter how harsh they may be. It's time to take action, and shift all the crap to the side, no matter how difficult it is.

This idea is not new to me; it is not a flash of enlightenment. I was a writer and editor for a long time, and many years ago my college professor gave me this mantra: “Write. [pause] Write. [pause] Write. [pause] If you want to be a writer, write. ”

To which I now add: “Take it off. [pause] Take it off. [pause] Take it off. [pause] If you want to be a photographer, take it. ”

Do the job

Considering the amplitude of noise in the world at the moment, it is useful when you are reminded of this. Even before reading Seinfeld’s interview, I had already embarked on this path: I spent yesterday with a camera, forcing myself to shoot in unusual places, with a lens of an unusual focal length for me. (More suitable for portraits than for landscapes). It was not easy, and although in the end I did not get anything outstanding, I still occupied my mind.

Today?

Today I am writing.

Little victories, my friends. Little victories.

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