It’s Not the Destination

2. Take a Road Trip
I drive back and forth between Brooklyn and Los Angeles quite a bit. The trust I feel that some time after passing through the Holland Tunnel I will arrive Los Angeles is the type of trust I would like to carry through all of my ventures. When I pull through St. Louis, I never say to myself “well, I’ve been at this a couple days and still no Los Angeles. I should just give up now.” Hell to the no. I keep driving, knowing that it is possible, I will get there and — oh, there’s a Panera!

The suggestions in this article, “5 Things You Can Use as Metaphors for the Creative Process,” could apply to any endeavor where there’s lag time and uncertainty. The best part is these are “action steps” so you can, you know, do something while you’re not doing something instead of just nervously waiting for something to happen. She also encourages just the opposite: chill and go with the flow of a literal body of water. Tubing! A sixth tip: rearrange all of your furniture. A seventh tip: cut bangs. An eighth tip: create a new avatar and comment on a blog post in the voice of your alter ego.