Once upon a time, I was stuck, and I didn’t know what to do. So I went to a career coach to get the answer. She ran me through a visualization exercise that ultimately was as follows
THE STUDY
VS.
THE FOREST
I only realized today that I’ve been stuck in the study for awhile.
In the study, everything is defined. There is a right and a wrong way to be and to do things. I am meant to produce things at my desk. I am meant to fill the walls with my accomplishments. The study opens into a home, and the home has rooms and furniture and things that I own. The study provides safety and shelter, but ultimately, I’m just in that room staring out a window.
The forest always changes. I never know what a path will lead me down. When it is at its most delightful, I am charmed by everything—a leaf and a slant of sunlight.When at its most terrifying, everything is dark. I fear whatever is ahead.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever find my way out. I run back into the study. And I become miserable.
That’s when I need to head back into the forest. No matter where it leads or why.
Another comment about this exercise: it’s become shorthand between me and some of my fellow creative compatriots. Often, one will say: “Are you in the study?” (That’s how I actually figured it out for this freewrite.)
Or, I’m curious to know what their version of it is. One friend was horrified by mine.
“The forest is too scary,” she said.
Instead, her “forest” was a storage facility filled with cameras, equipment and wires. Lots of things for her to build with.
“That’s sounds awful,” I said.
We laughed. A lot.