Creative Block

​To be honest, I don’t always know what to write about. I pride myself on being a creative thinker, someone who can “think outside the box,” but sometimes, no matter how hard I try, nothing comes out of the noggin.

Boo boo beee booo.

^my brain trying to think of something creative to say.

For a lot of Americans, this week has been a strange nightmare. While I write this right now, thousands are protesting Trump’s executive order issuing a “muslim ban,” and last night many gathered at area airports protesting the ban as well, before a federal judge granted an emergency stay for those who were already being held at airports, or currently in transit. This is on top of other orders that came out this week ranging from re-opening discussions on dangerous pipelines, to telling the EPA to stop all grants and contracts. National organizations like the National Parks Department and NASA have even taken to creating rogue Twitter accounts after gag orders were put in place to limit their messages(though who runs the accounts is a mystery, and not necessarily by someone from the organization). Lady Liberty is letting out a heavy sigh right now.

I think a lot of us are feeling heavy. Feeling like we don’t know what’s going to happen next, and focusing on passing one obstacle at a time. Our brains so focused on dealing with the absurd (because that’s what it is) that we can’t explore the ideas we have in the creative realm.

I was at a Leonard Cohen tribute concert earlier this week, which was a welcome mental break. Throughout the concert, they’d play excerpts of interviews with L. Cohen, and the selections used were particularly relevant to what we are facing today. Cohen once said “We're always experiencing joy or sadness. But there are lots of people who've closed down. And there are times in one's life when one has to close down just to regroup.” Right now, many are experiencing a lot of sadness, and a lot of uncertainty of what’s next. If you’re feeling this way, I encourage you to follow Cohen’s words–take a moment to regroup. Do not view that quiet moment as weakness, but instead as a brief chance to focus your mind and body, so you can be as strong as you can possibly be. There are many among you who will help you get back up.