Tag: right brain

Land of Pure Imagination

Briana Hansen1 Comment

willywonkathechocolatefactoryLast weekend I went to the San Diego Comic Convention. It’s the largest comic convention in the world. It’s overwhelming and ridiculously crowded and so much fun.
I had a delightful time. Not only because it was delightful to see so many of my imaginary friends from comics and books and TV and movies come to life in front of me, but mostly because it was one huge celebration of human imagination.

And I’m an big fan of the imagination.

I have a highly active imagination. I love to play make believe and dress up and create bizarro characters who exist in their own worlds (which I also create). I’m obsessed with the imagination. I became obsessed with improv during and after college because I couldn’t believe people would come watch you play in a world you’re creating on the spot where anything is possible. I nearly had a melt down the first time I did the Universal Studios tram tour because they take you into different worlds of movies and show you how people use their imagination to bring to life imaginary stories that then stimulate other people’s imagination. I’m creating a career based on living my life in the make-believe. I love people who play along and who embrace their imagination. And Comic Con was full of those people. And I loved them for it.

Also there was a lot of free beer. So that was pretty cool too.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep

Briana HansenLeave a comment

I have a creative mind. Which I’m passionate about and proud of.

My creative mind is really good at coming up with creative ways to get around problems.  This serves me 90% of the time. My mind has come up with an alternative or solution before I even realize there was an issue.

Unfortunately, my creative mind seems to think waking up at a reasonable hour is a problem that needs a solution.

No matter what I do to try and “trick” myself into getting out of bed early so I can have a productive and efficient morning, my creative mind is two steps ahead of me. The new “trick” will work for a day- maybe two. Then my mind will fix the “problem” before I know it, and I will somehow out-smart whatever trick I tried employing and will sleep in.

People say “Have a routine! Have a bedtime! Stick to a schedule!” and while I know in my heart and mind that they’re right- that would help me more than anything else, I would like them to live in my world for a week and try and wrangle this mind, ideas, and goals into a routine schedule. It’s nearly impossible. When you get really excited about a new project you thought up at 11:24 pm and need to spend the next three hours working on it, you need to spend the next three hours working on it. You can’t convince your mind to shut off at midnight so you can go to bed. You can only create. You don’t really have a choice in the matter. It’s a compulsion that you want to serve. Creativity sometimes comes in brilliant flashes that you have to just ride out until the light fades.

And sometimes, you’ve finished a show and should come home and go to bed, but instead you want to get a drink with the people you’ve just spent time performing with. Sure, you could technically skip out on this, but a huge part of performing is performing with people you like and you can’t know if you like people or not if you don’t spend any time talking to them with words that were not prewritten.

I know I need to recognize that my body needs to rest. I know I need to respect the fact that I push hard, and my body need sleep as a result. And I know I should give myself a break and not expect to be able to go to bed at 2 am and wake up at 6 am totally awake and refreshed every day. That won’t fly with my body. Fine.

BUT THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO DO IN THIS WORLD. I NEED MORE TIME TO DO THEM ALL. AND SLEEP IS UNPRODUCTIVE!

So if anyone has any new ideas, tips, or tricks for helping motivate to get up refreshed, I’m totally open to them.