Rediscovering The Spark

Sitting at the Starbucks in Albany, Oregon there are a hundred things going through my head. Most of them don't stick around long enough to be worth of a mention as I sip my coffee and watch people walk in and out of the door. I have sat here for two hours trying to figure out what to write about. I've searched Twitter for anything interesting, looked scores and talked on the phone but nothing. As boredom sets in I randomly look through my browser history. As I look I see pages and a think about what is on each one, then it hits me and I know what to write about. 

Sometimes I wonder why our likes and dislikes change with little rhyme or reason. Why do we do something for years and then suddenly stop? This has happened to a few friends of mine and to myself.

One friend of mine was a child prodigy on the cello. He was amazing at it. He won contests, wowed crowds, received lessons from famous musicians and was labeled the next great cellist. But one day he put his bow down. I don’t know if he has picked it up recently but I hope that he does.

Another one of my friends Daniel had this happen to him as well. He was a photographer. He lived and breathed photography. It was one of the similarities we initially bonded over. Getting the perfect picture, trying to get shots that others hadn’t. We spent hours talking about it. Then one day he put is camera down. Recently he picked up his camera again and is now trying to find that spark again. (1) He is one of my inspirations to start writing again.

I feel like I’ve lost the spark that I used to have, and I’m trying to find it again. Writing used to be effortless. I used to sit down and word would just flow out of me. I would write for fun, for no one other than myself. Whether I was recounting past experiences or just thoughts that came to my mind, I would write for hours. Now I struggle to find words. They hold onto whatever they can as I pull them kicking and screaming out of my brain and try to arrange them into something meaningful on a piece of paper.

To do anything in life you need three basic things.

1)   Inspiration

2)   Resolve

3)   Opportunity

I have my inspirations to write, and opportunity is everywhere I look. I just need to find the resolve to stick to it. This is what I’ll be working on in the coming weeks and months.

1.  To see more of Daniel's journey back into photography check out his blog www.photographymylove.com