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It's finally over.
The big move, that is.
Since coming to L.A., I've moved several times. I pulled into town with what was in my car - basically, some clothes, a file cabinet with my writings, and a few necessities. I went from a room to a 2-bedroom apartment with one roommate to a 2-bedroom apartment with six roommates. In less than two years, I moved nine more times. Each time I thought I had found an ideal situation and just found more insanity. Whether it was insane roommates who kept me up all night, psychotic roommates who called the police for attention, selfish roommates who didn't pay their bills, asshole roommates who got into so much trouble that the police cameknocking and almost arrested me, or the roommate who was stuck in a love triangle between my two friends who introduced me to him. This is not a healthy lifestyle - moving every two months and waking up dazed and not knowing where you are.
What could possibly be screwing up my home life all the time? Hmm... I needed to study the data and look for a possible common denominator.
After the love triangle incident, I moved into a 2-bedroom house where my roommate used all my groceries, rented out every spare inch of space to his friends for storage and disappeared for three and four days at a time without leaving food for his dog and three cats. When his girlfriend moved in, I moved out... into an apartment BY MYSELF.
Being creative has its price, as we all know. We also know that being creative has its place, and that place could be anywhere, depending on what motiviates you. Chaos can get those creative juices flowing, but too much chaos can get you caught up in its destructive onslaught. A child who escapes a war-torn country may one day tell an amazing story; a man who lives in a war-torn country will probably never find the time or peace to actually recognize that he has a story to tell. The same goes for solitude. Once you find the quiet station in which to transfer your ideas from brain to paper, you risk losing the fullness of the story because things are a bit too quiet.
Not having distractions can be as harmful as having too many. Unless you have the discipline of a police dog, not having witnesses around to keep yo in line can open up a whole new can of worms. While living alone has its definite perks, you're probably a bit less inclined to sleep until 2PM, lounge around in your underwear, eat two bags of Fritos for dinner and converse with your dirty socks if there's someone in your home who might ask you just what the hell you're doing.
When you start from zero, most of your learning is trial and error. We spend our lives trying to figure out what suits us best. It is part of our journey. We try different everythings to find out what we prefer: Taco Bell or Chinese buffet? Car or truck? Beer or wine? Married or single? CSI Las Vegas or CSI Miami or CSI Seattle or CSI Rochester or CSI Baton Rouge or CSI Mars Colony or CSI Dairy Queen? When you venture to L.A. with a trunk full of your dreams, mostly you have trial - to have error would almost imply that someone told you that you made a mistake and now you learn from it. Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of feedback, and hardly know what didn't work. We just know it didn't work THIS TIME.
So, the environment is key. How much work are you going to get done when you hate where you live? Not a lot - this I know. So, until the day comes when you move into your dream home, choose wisely your surroundings, young Skywalker.
Next week I'll give you some tips to make moving easier. You're going to need them. |
