I used to be a Medic and Firefighter-- in short I was an adrenaline junkie. And now I’m old and retired. And my body is bent and currently a bit broken. I seek to learn how to be dull.
Despite the enjoyment of watching the hummingbirds at my feeders and the light gardening I do. I still think I could become even more satisfied with my dullness.
Guide me to complete dullness!
My English teacher taught me “free writing”, which was basically just writing without stopping. Pretty good for unblocking your process and training the mind. That’s what I think of journaling as; but maybe I don’t have the requisite level of narcisism to find my mind droppings that interesting.
I knew a youtuber that would obsessively go through his life and work through his issues via jouranling, but I have a very poor autobiographical memory (maybe related to my limitted ability to visualize), so that’s not really an option for me…
I find writing as a hobby unsatisfying because it’s pretty lonely; even though I’m a better writer naturally than a musician, I can at least subject the suckers at the open mic night to my guitar playing and singing, and without obnoxious feedback.
I wasn’t taught about “free writing” per se. But it was briefly mentioned if I can remember correctly back the 100 years or so ago when I was last in a classroom as a student. I think it’s an excellent method for writers searching for ideas, but I don’t think holds value for me. I suspect I have a more logically organized thought process. Which probably speaks to the careers I had over my life, toolmaker/engineer, Medic, and math teacher.
I am a pretty good verbal storyteller. And my daughters will vouch for the tall tales I told them as children. As will the young students I had when I taught in my local school. But I ain’t going to write them down.
And as someone who has been on a stage and performed for a room full of drunks, I will tell you there ain’t nothing dumber on two feet than a crowd. They will like almost anything you do no matter how technically poor it might be. So keep a pickin’ and a grinnin’ as long as you enjoy doing it.