the everything thing

Just finished watching Neil Gaimin’s commencement speech  “Make Good Art”  while thinking about being more of a creator and less of a consumer. 

“. . .I tend to do anything that feels like an adventure. . . until it feels like work. . .  then I stop . . . so life doesn’t feel like work.”

The idea of creating more and consuming less feels right, especially as I continue on with my quest to only hold on to things that only spark joy in my life.  From time-to-time however I get caught up in wanting to create everything at once.

The very phantasmic  ZeFrank created a short video on this very subject. It’s called the everything thing. I can totally relate to the everything thing, which is the thing I do when I start to think about everything going on in my life all at once. It’s not necessarily an existential crisis, but it’s absolutely unnerving and I don’t recommend you try it. I actually think one should avoid the everything thing at all costs. I am now completely convinced this is why meditation has become so popular, people sign up for silent retreats and bingeing on bad Netflix programming is a huge thing. All attempts to escape the everything thing mind.

My everything thing mind does a rapid fire loop —

Sitting at my computer, looking out the window. I wonder why there are so many blackbirds in that tree? There’s like 100 of them.  Could this be a sign? Perhaps the end of the world is closer than I think? Black birds are kind of creepy, especially when they all fly in a swarm from tree-to-tree. Wow I’m hungry, but I don’t know what to eat. I should have a snack but my jeans are getting tight, maybe I should go food shopping now and buy a bunch of healthy vegetables while I graze on a bag of salty chips swerving in and out of the grocery aisles. Damn I have to clean this house, but I still want to create those meditation pillows today, read a hundred uplifting and creative blogs, oh and make that fun animation video, but damn I have to go food shopping for Thanksgiving. I don’t want to make the same old turkey dinner, I should mix it up, perhaps do some quick research right now, I wonder if Williams and Sonoma has some new exotic things to do with side dishes? (Sudden guilt attack), What am I thinking?  I really should be in Florida with my mom and my Aunt! What the hell is the matter with me? They are both really ill and who knows how long I have to still visit with them? I really don’t have my priorities straight. Wow I suck.

Yeah,  before you know it, I am drowning in the sea of the everything thing chaos.

Do you have attacks of the everything thing? If so, what do you do to help slow down your runaway mind?