Chicago! Why am I here? And my latest snippet

Infinite Selfie Ops

This is just a quick hello! I'm taking a break from wandering around one of the most amazing cities in the world--Chicago! One thing I can't get over about this city is that almost everything that we think of as notable coming from here happened in the last 150 years. It was only a military outpost at the beginning of the 19th century and quickly grew into a city of 300,000 only to be wiped out by a full third in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It killed people, destroyed the old wooden infrastructure and left a open canvas to become The City of the Big Shoulders.

I guess you can come back from anything--even when it seems like the blazing end of times.

My friends and I are here to gawk, visit, learn and conduct some sweet natured mischief. And because we want to do all of these things and FEEL GOOD we've all returned to our rooms for naps (and me to work on another chapter).

Yesterday I was on an overcrowded flight with barely room for my body much less my laptop. I folded up the tray table, folded my body in and got in a good chunk of writing. What I saw was 3 hours of uninterrupted time, a fully charged battery and a word count goal. I can think of 1000 different times when I would have seen conditions that were too cramped, too cold, less than ideal and impossible for concentration. What's different? Just the way I think about it.

Right now I'm wearing a soft bathrobe and my bunny slippers--different conditions, same goal. I could be telling myself I'm wasting my time (The City of Big Shoulders calls) but I'm so content to be here doing the one thing I want to do right now.

Here is my latest snippet:

Your grand plan didn’t work. Again.

I don’t know why you decided to sign over your hopes, dreams, self esteem and identity to yet another overburdened ode to making your life into something other than what it is.

I think it all starts with the allure of an infomercial. Something out there has the perfect solution to the mess of your life. A multi level, multipurpose, multitasking approach to the perfect you.

Only it didn’t work, again.

I see you despairing at 3AM, googling to find your answer. Who or what has it? Why does everything seem so hard? And why can’t you follow through? It must be that crushing lack of discipline that has destroyed your ability to achieve anything. Or, actually, there is just something very wrong with you. Specifically you.

Why does everything you’ve tried to do feel empty? You crossed the finish line but it didn’t give you what you hoped it would.

I feel you. There is a whole industry out there trying to fix your life through plans, programs, degrees, etc. Surely one of these holds the answer to making your life seem better than it does. Shinier or like you fulfilled some promised potential you suspect you have.

It all seems very hopeful. That some course of disciplined and directed action can fix your life.

I want to introduce you to a radical thought. You had it right when you were about 5 years old. Drawing wheels on a box—all of a sudden you have a car. No, the car doesn’t run but this is a small experiment in taking a thought and creating something you dearly want with what you have in front of you—your infinite and resourceful mind and imagination. Before you run off screaming with the deep suspicion that I’m saying you can imagine things into being, that isn’t where I’m coming from at all. 

My point is that you are a learning/experimenting machine. We are designed to do this.