Summer has just peaked, the solstice still in our peripheral view, and I feel like I can exhale.
How about you?
I just completed the manuscript for my next book on the hottest day of the year here in London where I live. A timely and welcome movement — it’s been a hot month and I don’t mean the weather.
Everything around me has synergized around this project (more details soon!), a force that’s magnetized my attention. Related ideas probe me from things I read, my mind wrestles it in my dreams, even my kids seem to be on the same wavelength as they innocently voice possibilities I’ve struggled to articulate; everything suddenly hyper relevant to my subject matter.
I’ve been so stuck into it that I’ve hardly noticed my immersion, kind of like when you’re out running and the flow is so good that you look up and hardly recognize where you are. How did I get here? Did my legs really carry me all this way? Similarly, pages have been pouring out of me and even though I have absolutely no stamina for sitting at my very non-ergonomic desk (don’t tell my osteopath), I’ve been like a content mollusk, bralessly folded into the shell of my laptop in the same joggers for weeks. Dashing out for the afternoon school run has felt like an awkward emergence from the deep that I never fully dry off from.
Maybe you’ve had (or are having) a similar experience with something you’re working on, or perhaps an interest you’re pursuing? It’s amazing how much energy is tethered to our attention.
Granted, this is also the reality of writing a book in 8 weeks. It requires a sharp narrowing of focus and conjuring of action, regardless of motivation.
I’ve only just noticed the heat of it all. And now it’s time to cool it down.
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