Resolutions

David Bowie by Patrice Murciano2016 was a rough one, no doubt about it.

I’m not going to belabor the point, which has pretty much become a cliché at this point. Dumpster fires, meteor strikes, the grim reaper chopping through the population of our heroes like a cuisinart… you all know how it goes.

A dark year for me, too. Personal reasons. Personal failings. I won’t go into detail. The biggest one is well-known — hell, it’s getting to be ALL I’m known for, at this point. Another 12 months without releasing FAR WEST.

There were great things this year, too — and I’m putting them here in an effort to prevent “2016 = horrible” to be the sole thing that I remember, years from now.

My younger daughter got engaged! My son reached the first goal of his plan and headed off to school! My oldest passed her second bar exam (NY – #EsquireSquared, as she says)! All wonderful things.

I brought on a much-needed partner to Adamant Entertainment — Eric Trautmann, who has had an immediate effect, not only getting me back on track, but spearheading the company into regular releases again (the stream of THRILLING TALES products over the latter part of this year is entirely due to his diligence).

So, as I post this with a picture of David Bowie accompanying it, I look ahead to 2017.

The Bowie pic is my reminder. My intention to hold him as my Patron Saint in the coming year. The goal of 2017 is to create, create, create — never stop creating. This is something that I struggled with in 2016. I was hard to find it within myself to create, when there were so many other things that overwhelmed me at times.

If I have any resolution for the coming year — the thing that is going to require my constant diligence to bring about, that I will need to remind myself of, and that hopefully some of you will remind me of as well, if needed, it is this:

DO NOT WASTE MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL ENERGY ON THINGS THAT I CANNOT AFFECT.

Doing so only makes us feel helpless, frustrated, overwhelmed. It is far better for me to spend my effort only on those things I have direct influence over… and in my case, that is my creative process. I wasted so much energy this year on anxiety, outrage and depression.

I cannot solve the world’s problems. I can only do my work. And if I do that, and only that, I will get things done, which will lead to the positive emotional feedback of accomplishment — which is a helluva lot better than feeling overwhelmed and adrift.

So that’s 2017 for me. Create. Get Things Done. And Keep Going.

 
 

2 Replies to “Resolutions”

  1. Good luck, Gareth! I too am coming out of a creative drought, though thankfully with not nearly the baggage you are carrying to do it. You’ve proven yourself before so you know you have what it takes!

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