Apr
5
Breaking, Building and Leaning Into Limits
Filed Under Content Development, The Meaning of Life | 4 Comments
Nature fumbles all the time. Things break. Early sprouts freeze and die back. Erosion takes down hillsides, even hillsides where humans have not clearcut. In the long run, our trying to catch up with nature is what ends up looking more damaged. Nature has built-in ways to compost and recycle what falls. We humans sometimes skip the recycling and head straight into rebuilding. Are we determined to live on the wet hillside with a view, or the ocean front flood plane?
I think it goes deeper than that. Maybe we need the possibility of "faux pas." Maybe it's part of an instinct for leaning into challenges.
I was thinking about inconvenient instincts this morning while watching my cat play with my bath water - such a joy. He is *fascinated* with the reflections and movement of water, *almost* to the point of wanting to get in on purpose. Once in a while there is a great scattering noise as he does whatever is needed to recoup his balance, but in a few minutes or less he'll be right back at it.
When I pull the plug and the water has drained to about the last 1/4" he often jumps into the tub: 1/4" to 1/2" is his kitty cat faux pas wet paws limit. He cringes a little as he lands in the wet bathtub. Fascination overpowers cringe almost immediately, as he races to watch the last of the water go down the drain, and then stalks and pats at water droplets rolling down the side of the tub.
I am like that when it comes to programming. I know how to do a few very small things with php, and it fascinates me. If I lean in too far, or get in over my head, it's chaos. Wet paws are just enough, over and over again. I like patting at those water droplets.
My php tolerance has gradually increased. I remember when I felt the same way about html, and later on about css-based layouts. These transitions would not have happened naturally, without my encouragement, any more than it was strictly natural for humans to create culture protected by dikes and levies in Holland and New Orleans - but look at what we can accomplish. I like it, I work at it, and I protect it by building on what I've learned. I build my own version of dikes and levies - I look at what I can accomplish, and it makes me happy.
Lexi and iamlosts's comments on my post, Sympathy for the Technology Avoider, led me to wondering about what makes us tick when we go for it anyway, whatever "it" is at the moment. As Jenn Osborne's Blog Strategy series is on my mind this week, and I had planned to respond to her last post about coming up with blog post ideas for challenging industries, my next post is going to be about blog post ideas, with a little twist. I'll be looking at how to approach blog post ideas for the technology avoider.
Ironically, I'll be writing as it rains. We're at the not-so-nice edge of Spring here, and I want to be doing outside things in between rain drops. I'm not going to glue myself to the computer until the sky is falling. When I'm outside I'll be avoiding the rain. When inside I plan to glory in it.
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4 Comments so far
When I’m outside I’ll be avoiding the rain.
No.
Wrong attitude.
Go outside and raise your face and let it pour. Hop and skip between puddles then jump stomp each hard. Channel Gene Kelly and sing while you dance in the rain.
Rain and wind are soul exhillerants. Do not deny what our wet coast delivers in such abundance. Listen to the frogs and watch the ducks. Shake like a dog and laugh.
Then take that well rinsed, well blown, well invigorated mind and soul and body back to work. You and your writing will both be the better for it.
Oh, it isn’t going to rain anymore, anymore
It isn’t going to rain anymore
The grammar’s good, but what a bore
So we’ll sing it like before
It ain’t gonna rain no more, no more
It ain’t gonna rain no more
How in the heck can I wash my neck
If it ain’t gonna rain no more
iamlost – LOL. I’ll get back to you on that when the rain is five degrees warmer. Cold *and* wet is my half-inch faux pas wet paws limit.
Signed,
iamsemiadventurous
Yes, our minds are intrigued by what we can build with them, our thoughts taking shape in form, either blogs, websites, or, in the grander scheme of things, Hoover Dam, satellites, and freeways.
The important part that often gets overlooked is how we discern what we build. As you ask, do we really want to live on an ocean front flood plane? Probably not unless we can get someone else to foot the bill for the risks.
I think we are prone to doing too much building with far too little discernment as to what might be of real benefit. The level of technology involved dictates the particular forms we are building, but the level of discernment can be haywire at any level of technology.
Thoughts are the raw material from which great ideas are born. With great ideas we build our dreams into reality!