Staying in Motion

When people are left to their own devices, they are made to choose to deal with their time in a manner that is most befitting their desires. Many yearn for this kind of freedom in their lives as they damn the forced labor they go through from day to day in the name of a steady income and a decent lifestyle. However, it is not uncommon to find that those without a set amount of work, whether in an academy, in the household, or in the corporate setting find themselves restless, unable to focus without the restrictions of a controlled environment.

There are a rare few that are capable of clearly dividing their time into productive sections that allow the development of their skills and their endeavors. On the other hand, there is a huger number that fail to regulate their time efficiently. 

For many, albeit their lack of consciousness regarding the matter, need work as a point of focus. Work forces them to give their full attention on a task that will ultimately lead to their profit, whether in terms of monetary compensation, skill development, or  life lessons. While the environment and conditions of work differ for each one,--and indeed while some are breezing through it, some suffer it greatly-- there is a stabilizing aspect to working within a restricted environment that is grounding for most.

In fact, given the time constraints that an 8-5 job gives, we are forced to recognize the tasks and activities that we treasure most, enough so that we actively try to allocate time to do them. Given limited free time, we feel the pressure of accomplishing them instead of continually putting them off for an unknown length of time.

I am not one of those people that can do much without pressure. I find myself producing more meaningful work during moments when I am pushed to do them during the window of time between my job and rest. This is a little unsettling for me because like others, I dream of a hassle free lifetime of lounging and working whenever I feel like it. However, as time goes by, I begin to acknowledge this fact. 

Without that thing running behind us, trying to bite us, it is harder to find the motivation to take the step that will lead us to our goal. Perhaps those that do not need the physical manifestation of pressure through actual work are simply those who are motivated on their own, with imagined deadlines and with their own monsters on their tails. 

Any action causes a reaction. Work is a force, an action that makes us go forward. Without it, many of us find ourselves stagnant, staring at the stretch of distance before us without much attempt to cross it.

Ideally, finding a job which we love doing is the way to go to produce the best work we can make as it provides pressure, inspiration, and compensation all at the same time. However, we are not all lucky to be doing our dream jobs. In which case, simply having work or subjecting ourselves to a type of pressure is what we can do to be able to deal out produce and art.

Well, there is the third option of learning the hard art of self-motivation, but for the meanwhile, whilst we are still in the process of learning, we should remain in motion. 

There is this rule during a workout that while undergoing an exercise routine, we cannot stop. Even when taking a break, we should be continually in moving  to not lose any progress we‘ve made in heating up and to not feel the laziness and tiredness that come after our bodies recognize that we are finally at rest,  cooling down. In this same way, we should always be in action in the process of reaching our goals in order to always keep sight of it and keep motivated over the distance we are continually making. The steps we take to development should be consistent and directed forward, regardless of what pushes us, --even when it’s something we see as grueling work. 

This is not to say that we should not take vacations or take time for some self-reflection. In fact, these two are like those breaks in an exercise routine I mentioned where we rest without ceasing motion. For one, a vacation is something we acknowledge as temporary. It is also taking time to recoup energy and motivation while at the same time considered as a reward for a job well done. It is not completely stopping but more of an enjoyment of scenery, like taking the time to look outside a moving car to marvel at the beauty the journey offers. You can’t take a vacation when there is nothing to take a vacation from. It is one of the perks of work.  

Self-reflection, meanwhile, is part of the process of improvement. It is taking time to bend your knees and make your leg muscles taut in preparation for that great leap.

What is important is that we do things that will, in the end, aid us in keeping in motion and reaching that goal. We need to make our lives’ pieces all part of the collage that would make that masterpiece we are aiming for.

Fictional Love

(…or not.)

There is something about witnessing a life other than our own in a distanced point of view that allows us to learn of things about a person in a clearer manner than we are usually afforded in our personal lives. As gift of distance, we are given a sense of power, which goes hand-in-hand with knowledge that allows us to make more informed emotional attachments about the individuals we serve witnesses to. And what a great amount of added security this gives us as it is not part of the normal repertoire of our hearts to easily choose those to whom we give it to.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why we find it easier to exclaim our proof of affection to fictional characters encountered in television dramas, movies, novels, and other media of story-tellers rather than confess it in the same open manner to the people we interact with in our own lives.

Moreover, there exists in the fictional a promise of a one-way love. In the lack of true interaction between the fictional character and the real person, there are fewer complications compared to a two-way relationship where there are more variables to be considered, many of which continually change. There are fewer uncertainties between the fictional and the real. Metaphorically-- and for some types of media literally, fiction is in black and white and set in stone.

This is not to say that fictional stories are not as confusing, perplexing, or thought-inducing as that of real life events because that would be a lie and a great disrespect to the hundreds of authors and their works which have enthralled their audiences for many years. What I simply mean is that whatever is presented in the fictional stories is something that is constant, regardless of the multiple interpretations they may inspire. While motives are always tricks that confound and befuddle, events that happen and the actions that the characters go through cannot be hidden nor lied about.

As a result of the great amount of people who experience undeniable emotional attachment to certain fictional universes or characters, many banded together to share mutual interests. There is currently, in modern culture, the phenomenon called “fandoms”. A fandom is a collection of people who have declared themselves followers of a certain canon. People who are part of a fandom are those who share the same interests, and within themselves create their own jargons and fandom-specific creations. Various fan works are usually produced, either as tribute to the canon or simply as an endeavor of self- interest. Through these fan works, the power of the audience to play with the characters in a way which, more usually than not, diverts from the original universe they were from are greatly visible. Fan works’ existence portrays a magnified version of reader/audience response and the reality of how both creator and audience play a role in creating a work as the different perceptions and interpretations of creations become more obvious in the extremely public presentations afforded them by the Internet.

However, before any fandom could form, there is the prerequisite of a loved canon. Without a beloved universe with a set number of rules and fundamental information that make it original and its own, there can never be a fandom. It remains that what is canon is unquestionable, allowing the audience to choose to give themselves over to the fiction.

Loving a fictional character is an easier kind of love, but that does not take from it genuineness. In a way, it is different and separate from love formed and experienced in relationships in real life, but at the same time, the emotions that beat from our chests, the hormones, and the endorphins in each and everyone’s systems that it allows to form and excrete are undeniable. Attachment can be created, something like unrequited love but with more liberties and possibilities.

Thus love for fictional characters is not fictional at all. It is a different kind of love than what we experience with our families, friends, or partners, but it exists nonetheless. Just as there is a diversity of people, race, color, and specie in this world, there is also a diversity of love.

New Year Transcendence

There is no sure way to truly measure the powers of a single human being despite efforts to quantify it through various tasks and challenges, whether physical, mental, or creative in nature. Nonetheless, it has been taken as purpose of many individuals to try to at least have a tentative measure of the amount which a person is capable of contributing to an endeavor, thus the creation of various tests like I.Q. tests, personality tests, E.Q. assessments, and the abundance of critics in all areas of expertise.

It is perhaps the self that is truly the most stubborn pursuant of a tell of one’s worth. It is not uncommon for people to claim that they are their own worst critic. This is key to self-improvement. The need to glimpse one’s worth and try to transcend it is part of the process of the evolution of an individual, as well as the human race.  

However, in the endeavor to know, many find it too easy to see flaws in their works in magnified and grotesque versions that other viewers may simply find overpowered by the sheer brilliance of the creations.

Ironically, from the human nature that desires the verification of the self, the vindication of flaws in the face of genius, sprouts that which dampens desire into lukewarm acceptance of the present condition. The overt misappropriation of attention toward criticism and appreciation, with the former taking more mental space than the latter, leads to doubt and a lessened desire to practice one’s craft, ending in stagnancy, not only of talent, but also of self-development.

As in all things, balance is key to self-improvement. While awareness of one’s weaknesses is essential to better ourselves as people and as artists, knowledge of our own streak of genius is needed for the optimization of our best qualities and to provide the proper motivation to strive towards excellence. We need to realize that we have the raw materials--- the blocks, the mortar, the physical power to do the work to create the pillars of our testament to a good and well-lived life in which we have contributed to the world as much as, or even more than, it has contributed to our happiness and contentment.

I am a writer, and I myself have experienced, and in fact is still experiencing, the crippling self-doubt as I have discussed. I have been aware of this for quite a while, but have found myself without the will power to break my easy non-participation in my craft. However, while the symbolism is cliché, it is the New Year, and I find myself wanting to acknowledge the build-up of disbelief in my abilities in an attempt to become what I wish I could be, thus can possibly be.

I have never lacked the desire to be an accomplished writer, but while there is the overflowing of dreams, the determination to go outside the boundaries of comfort did not come in abundance.

This is me spearheading the process to overcome myself in order to transcend my perceived best.

This blog is not about the Victorian Era. This blog is about Victoria sharing her discussions and stories about life and all that catches her fancy. I wish to have these discussions with you, share this experience and thoughts with you, and create and gain inspiration with you to help us through the everyday goings-on of a world that could be kinder but is capable of giving in to those that truly try.

Happy New Year!

Victoria (Viel) Elma