Author: Christine

Christine http://www.mombie.com I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Co-Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm the current president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

My View When Writing

I have never seen myself as someone in need of protection but Khalee keeps an eye on me just in case.

This afternoon, I looked over from my writing to discover that she was doing slight more active surveillance than usual.

?

A light-haired dog is lying on her belly on a bed.
Image description: Khalee, a white and light brown dog, rests on Christine’s quilt. She’s watching Christine take her photo. There is a grey and black cardigan on the edge of the bed nearest the camera.

The key is…

I guess the title should really be ‘Keys are…’ and the rest of the sentence would be ‘one of my favourite things.

Not only do I love keys and key decorations in themselves, I love the IDEA of keys.

Sure, one one level they are quite mundane – you use a key, it moves the mechanisms in the lock, the door opens.

But, if, like me, you view the world with a storyteller’s eye, keys become much more mysterious.

From that perspective, you are holding a magical item that will allow you admission into forbidden places.

You can move between worlds,

You can access secrets.

You can seek out important things.

All because of an item you can hold in your hand.

Three small decorative keys are resting on a quilted mat.
Image description: Three small decorative old-fashioned keys, one pewter-coloured with a crown on top, one plain silver, and one bronze key with a clover-like top are resting on a brown and blue quilted mat.

Doing Nothing

I am currently reading two different books about doing nothing.*

Yes, I do see the irony in that.

I’m really interested in the idea of doing nothing and what “doing nothing” means for different people.

I rarely, if ever, do literally nothing.

My ADHD brain won’t start for it.

BUT that doesn’t mean that I am always working or always being “productive.” (Blech)

I make a distinction between work (for pay or for purpose) time and my other time. I spend my other time in a variety of ways but I have almost always planned what is going to happen during that time.

I might be doing a household project or I might be reading. I could be drawing or going for a walk.

Knowing the plan and how long I will spend at something is a crucial element in my relaxation. If I don’t decide in advance, my brain will keep trying to figure out if I am spending enough time at the activity or if is time to switch to a different one.

I’m not stuck with the plan once it is made either, I can choose to change it. But the choice has to be conscious or I will not stay relaxed.

So I may have chosen to lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling for 20 minutes. (Which is technically doing nothing but for me is an activity I chose in that moment.) At the end of 20 minutes, I can choose to spend another 20 or 10 or an hour. That will all still feel relaxing.

But, if I try to just lie there for an indeterminate amount of time, my brain will be full of questions “Is this what you should be doing? Have you forgotten something? Have you been lying here too long? Are you done yet?”

For me, lying on the couch for a specific amount of time is not ‘doing nothing’ – it’s lying on the couch.

Anyway, I do understand that there is a lot of pressure on all of us to be working hard and being productive all the time and I can just as easily fall victim to it as anyone else can.

But I also resist the idea that having a plan or a schedule means that I am not relaxed ‘enough’ or that I am ‘always working.’

I’m interested to see what the books have to say about ‘nothing’ and what insights they might have for my busy brain.

These flowers have nothing do with this post. I just think they are pretty.

A patch of small purple flowers surrounded by green leaves
Image description: a patch of small purple flowers surrounded by green leaves.

*The books are ‘How to do Nothing’ by Jenny Odell and ‘The Lost Art of Doing Nothing’ by Maartje Willems.

Some things I just noticed today

I love how walking at even slightly different times of day or at a slightly different pace or a slightly different route leads me to notice new things in familiar places.

I love when rocks are sticking out of the ground like this, it reminds me of the site where I used to go to Guide camp.

I also love Khalee’s expression in this photo, kind of giving me side eye.

A large rock sticks out of the ground, surrounded by greenery. A light haired dog stands nearby.
Image description: a large piece of speckled rock is emerging from the ground, surrounded by greenery. A light-haired dog with a harness and a leash stands near it, looking sideways/toward the camera.

I’m sure I just have seen this type of tree before and perhaps I will recognize it again later in the season. I suspect that I am usually too busy in the spring to notice it flower, or maybe it has just reached eye level this year. Either way, I’m happy to have noticed it.

Green leaves, pink buds, and a white flower on a tree.
Image description: bright green leaves, a white flower, and pink buds on a tree.

Even though I have always been fairly observant, I sometimes am so focused on completing a task before I get distracted that I don’t notice everything I would have liked to see.

I’m tweaking that tendency these days and it has been worth the effort.

I like firm guidelines

I always have trouble with vague guidelines.

I don’t mean to suggest that I can never wing it, or that I need strictly defined rules in every situation. That’s definitely not the case.

But since ADHD affects my perception of both my own efforts AND of what is enough in any given situation, I can have an extra struggle with choosing where to apply my efforts.

This ‘note to self’ is about creating a more defined guideline for myself.

A drawing of a robot in a yoga pose. The caption says ‘just pick a few battles, two maybe.’
Image description: a drawing of a robot in warrior II pose with a caption that reads ‘Note to self: Just pick a few battles. Two, maybe.’