The Art of Needlessly Dwelling

I have this tendency to keep coming back to something over and over, looking at it from different angles, or from the same one relentlessly, etc. until I get sick of it. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not, but I know it isn’t if I never get to the point of just saying, “fuck it, it’s good enough” or “that’s it, I’m just going to do it”. It’s a tendency to hover around one thing, to over-prepare, over-think, to get to absorbed in something (an idea, a story, a challenge). I’m so good at this I’m pretty sure it should qualify as an art form: the art of needlessly dwelling.

Even with a couple of posts here I haven’t published yet – including this one before it was posted – I’ve already found myself going over it more than I need to, getting stuck on moments of uncertainty. Thinking of writing on this blog as ‘mind splattering’ helps a lot for some reason. It makes it easier to stop holding things up and just hit the ‘publish’ button, or to stop fucking around or trying to explain myself so I can just say what I want to say.

How to Say ‘Fuck You’ to Uncertainty

Just do what you were going to do, what you want to do. Doubt is a mind-killer, a paralyzer, and the only way to knock it on its ass and get on with your writing, or your job, or your project (whatever the hell you want to do, say, or even be) is to embrace that doubt and let it ride along while you take action. The idea, basically, is to acknowledge your doubt, uncertainty, or fear and say to it, “alright let’s go, I’ll show you how full of shit you are”.

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(Originally Posted on April 1st, 2013)