Find Your Happy Place

I don't normally listen to music when I work. I get distracted too easily, so even if I manage to stay away from social media (which is, um, rare), the music will ensure that both my mind and the document on my screen remain blank. All listening to music does is make me wish I lived in the universe of High School Musical, where normal, everyday people perform elaborate musical numbers just to tell people that they don't sing or dance. (Also a universe where everyone is talented at both singing and dancing. Oh, what a world that would be!)

HOWEVER. If I am listening to music, you can bet your butt I'm listening to music from Disney World.

(I talk about Disney a lot, I know. I'm sorry. I can't really help it.)

Here's the thing, though: I really love Disney World. Like, immensely. You already know that, probably, if you've talked to me for more than a second and a half. It is, if you will....my happy place. (Roll credits.)

Everyone has a happy place, don't they? That place that we like to retreat to when we're angry or upset or sad or stressed or whatever. Mine is no differnet--it just happens to have a giant castle...and Mickey Mouse.

Ignoring the details of my own personal happy place, though, have you ever really thought about what yours is? Have you ever used it? Do you have it developped into more detail than just, "Oh, yeah, there's a meadow. And, um, trees, I guess? A river, sure. A nice stream of water. And clouds. Are we done?"

No, my friend, we're not. You are gonna sit your butt down and figure this shit out.

To work hard, well, and productively, you need a good atmosphere. You need something with minimal distractions, a pretty view, a good beverage...pretty much something that makes you comfortable. You need to want to be there, dammit, otherwise you'll spend the next hour and a half wishing you were somewhere else. You need the right chair, the right temperature control, the right level of background noise envelopping you in a warm coccoon of happiness.

To be productive, you need your happy place. Or, at least, the closest thing you can get.

Unfortunately, I can't live in Disney World. I want to (and if I had won that 1.6 billion dollar jackpot a while back, maybe I could have), but unfortunately, as much as I'd like to sit outside of the Starbucks on Main Street, USA and spend the remainder of my days writing to my little heart's content....it probably isn't going to happen.

But being in Disney World makes me so happy. I love the sounds, the excitement, the...well, everything. I love everything. When I am in a Disney park, everything is finally right with the world! So what can I do to harness that, to bring the magic of Disney into my everyday life?

THIS.

Some beautiful soul created four beautiful playlists, comprised of various songs used throughout the respective theme parks. Sometimes--normally when I'm out and about, wanting to be anti-social while I work--I plug in my headphones and crank up one of those playlists, so I can work and pretend I'm in Disney World to my little heart's content. It doesn't matter if I'm writing, blogging, studying...whatever. It helps me focus and be productive when I really don't want to. (Okay, sometimes it also makes me want to run away from home, Disney or Bust. But trust me, most of the time it works.)

The great part about this is that it's portable--I can take my beautiful, wonderful happy place with me wherever I go. (Or at least, wherever there's wifi. Gotta love those data charges.) Wherever I happen to be, I can live my blissfully ignorant life of pretending I'm in Disney World 24/7.

What about you? What's your happy place?

Until later,

- Justyne

Colour

I spend more time daydreaming than anything else. More than writing, more than Sims, more than the time I waste on every social media site combined. I do it at night, as I'm falling asleep, and in the morning before I can be bothered to get out of bed. I do it when I'm commuting to and from work; hell, I do it while I'm working. I have enormous dreams and countless fantasies, all playing out in the confinds of my mind. There's a reason most of my internet screen names are "day-dreamer-101". It's the biggest and best way to describe my personality.

I also consider it to be super fundamentally important to my life and identity as a writer.

I've talked before about the reason I became a writer, but I only briefly touched on how I really got from watching and fantasizing about Sailor Moon to writing my own story inspired by it. Before there were words, typed into existence on my family's computer, there were daydreams.

Do you know how many times I dreamt up my first story before I actually wrote it down? Dozens, at least. Hell, the only reason I wrote it down at all was because the story changed every time I played through it in my head. I just wanted to remember what pieces I had already put together--the idea of actually being a writer came later.

Before writing, there was daydreaming. It's been the constant in my life, the thing that defines me better than anything else. It's the reason I read so much, why I get so emotionally invested in these fictional stories, why my dreams are as big and as bright as they are. It's my method for getting through a stubborn case of writer's block, the way I envision a story before I start it, and the reason I'm able to tolerate long commute times. It's the most productive form of procrastination I have.

When you're pursuing any sort of creative career, you need a big imagination--and what better sign of a big imagination than the ability to daydream so colourfully?

My imagination is one of my proudest qualities. I'm grateful that I'm able to dream as big as I did as a child, that this sometimes cruel world has not yet broken me down like it has others. It's not pure determination that fuels me to keep trying--it's the idea that it's possible, that any dream I can cook up can come true.

One of my favourite quotes

Without imagination, the world can be a very grey place. I'd much rather see it in colour.

10 Quotes That I Absolutely Love

Every now and then, I come across a quote--be it from the internet or a book or whatever--that I love oh-so-very-much that I just HAVE to write it down.

I now present to you ten of these quotes, in no particular order.

~~

"...and I decided that I would do my best in future not to write books just for the money. If you didn't get the money, then you didn't have anything. If I did work I was proud of, and I didn't get the money, at least I'd have the work." - Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art 

"I know you're not perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else." - Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door 

"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy." - Stephen King 

"The truth is this: successful writers don't have more time than you. They MAKE time to write." - S.J. Scott

"For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. ... If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it?" - Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever 

"Life is full of screw-ups. You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of human existence." - Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride

"Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else." - Gloria Steinem

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." - Neil Gaiman, Coraline 

"I am here to tell you that if you don't feel ready for university at the age of eighteen, there is always time to go back should you ever want to. I am here to tell you that having a well-paid job that is so often glamorised by the media and 'career advisers' at school is not the answer to happiness if it is not what you want to do." - Emma Blackery, YOU ARE NOT YOUR PARENTS

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

What's your favourite quote?

Until later,

- Justyne