Jess Boctor

Category: Adventure On

  • Thoughts About Letting God Down

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    Thoughts About Letting God Down

  • Hey Mama, Arpo Sees You

    He’s sees you too daddy. You too nanny, oma, teta, and basically anyone who takes care of small children.

    Arpo gets it.

    https://youtube.com/channel/UCrSx8rek9EuC3YGHvG8aalw

    Arpo is a cartoon robot that takes care of small children. It is a fun quick show that showcases the craziness of being a caregiver.

    One of my favorites is this quick short about the struggles to spend quality time with your charges (in my case, my kids) while also taking care of the day to day business of life.

    I felt so seen the first time that I watched this cartoon. Not only because it was relevant to one of the daily hurdles I face, but because it showed me the struggle is universal enough for cartoon makers to tap into it for inspiration.

    It is so good to know that I am not alone in this. I am not the only one trying to figure out how to get everything done. Even a multi-handed robot can’t quite sort it out.

    So remember whoever you are when you’re taking care of littles, Arpo gets it. And laughter helps any situation. So take a deep breath, have a quick laugh, and get back to the saints work you are doing.

    Adventure on.

  • A Little Soul Care

    Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life.

    Pablo Picasso

    I once had a rubber stamp with this quote on it. It might still be buried somewhere. We definitely got a lot of milage out of that one.

    However, as much as I liked to tout the importance of art to keep things vibrant and fresh…I don’t think I really understood the full meaning of the quote until today.

    I always took the quote to mean the consumption of art. That by looking at, listening to, or experiencing great art from great artists, my soul would be cleansed. I would come home refreshed and invigorated. Ready to tackle the mundane business of laundry, dishes, diapers, and all-the-things.

    Of course means it has to be an excursion, right? I have to go to a great temple of art like LACMA or even the local temple of RAM. I need to view, pause, breathe. Then somehow in the stillness of those white walls and climate controlled environment, I will be liberated from the everyday.

    But who has time for that?

    Don’t get me wrong, I love an excursion to be inspired by what others are doing. There is something magical in those all-encompassing spaces.

    But I LIVE in the everyday. I am learning that leaving the dusting for six months just means you live in the dirt. And man-oh-man, the more you let it settle the harder it is to wash away.

    This is where I realized I got this quote wrong. I don’t think art consumption is what cleans our souls. I think it is art creation. And it doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to go on a canvas or get hung up. Think of a child who draws fifteen pictures for their refrigerator because they love to draw. I think that is the type of art that washes your soul on the daily.

    It took a morning of overwhelm, frustration, and the decision to go in my studio rather than check out in front of the TV for the epiphany to strike. Within a few small strokes of my pen on paper, I was already feeling more calm. More in time with myself. More clean.

    I don’t know what it would look like for you to make some art on the regular. I don’t know what it looks like for me to be honest. I think the first step is reaching for a pen rather than a remote.

    I do hope we can figure it out though. That we can be people who aren’t living in the dust storms of the mundane. Rather, that we can be people who have been washed clean to focus in the bigger perspective.

    Adventure on.

  • Baseline Creativity

    I’m just not creative.

    Too Many People

    I have a strong reaction when people tell me they aren’t creative. I think part of it is because I believe we all reflect the creativity of the one who created us, and are all therefore inherently creative.

    But mostly, I attribute it to misunderstanding creativity. There are so many tangents I could follow on this, but I am trying to compose a coherent thought (something which has become harder since becoming a parent).

    So here’s my thesis:

    Creative work doesn’t always look creative.

    Here is one of the creative things I did recently:

    It has been a while since I put my dirty laundry on a blog post.
    The shelves are labaled by the type of laundry and what day of the week they should be washed on.

    It isn’t glamorus. I am sure there are many who would argue that sorting your laundry is not a creative endeavor. On the surface, it looks like I would have to concede that they may have a point. There is not much that is new, unusual, or novel in having clearly labeled laundry. It definitely doesn’t look like some of my creative pursuits of the past.

    A self portriat I did based off an image from a younger version of myself. Completed in my journal in 2015.

    The point I want to make here is that not all creativity is about being shiny or pretty. I think creativity is about how we solve problems, both real and imagined. Oftentimes we overlook creative work because it doesn’t look like how we think it should. The simple solutions we come up with everyday aren’t tagged as creative and the dreaded words begin to echo…I’m not creative.

    So while the laundry baskets aren’t stylized or pretty pops of colors ( I am sure there are many pinners out there who would see opportunities for improvements) they are simple, maintainable, and one piece in solving a larger problem in my life. To me, that is incredibly creative.

  • Do you even like to blog?

    Over the last decade or so a sub-industry of online marketing has sprung up. It is an industry that generates online content which is centered around teaching you how to make money by creating online content.

    It is filled with influencers teaching you how to be an influencer and bloggers teaching you how to blog. They often come with grand promises of earning thousands of dollars a month by following their practices.

    A simple Pinterest search for How to Make Money Blogging gives a visual clue into how over saturated the market is. You can see similar results in Google and YouTube.

    This post isn’t a criticism of earning an income through content generation. In fact, this post is the first of an experimental series I am working on. The goal will be to see exactly what it takes to go from having a free blog on WordPress.com to a business that earns revenue by creating content. More on that to come.

    However, it has been my experience that these soothsayers of profit forget to ask one foundational and simple question: do you even like to blog?

    Do you enjoy putting fingers to keyboard and staring down a cursor on a white screen? Is the process of digging deep to find words that are worthy of being shared enjoyable? Are you up for the battle of fighting imposter syndrome and constantly debating whether this post even matters? Is it worth it?

    These are questions I have been asking myself recently.

    My blogging journey started in 2006 when a group of people from my community started the trend. In fact, this site (formerly known as phantomblonde.wordpress.com) is the very first blog I started. You can even go way back to see my first and super unimpressive post.

    Over the years, I have gone through the full swing of blogging experiences. Sometimes I used it as a personal diary that provided way too much information. Other times I tried to use it as an infomercial. The inconsistency of my blogging practice was the most consistent thing about it. One of the most common blog posts I found myself writing were of the “Sorry I disappeared but I’m back and I’ll be better!” variety.

    Since 2018 I have been on an intentional blogging hiatus. I took a break because I found myself in a monetization mentality which became overwhelming. I felt trapped by the idea that I had to blog a certain way, write a certain way, and that if it wasn’t generating income it wasn’t worth my time.

    Now, pretty two years later I am back. I’m not going to make promises about being a better blogger. I’m not going to apologize for disappearing. I’m just going to answer a simple question and move forward.

    Do you even like to blog?

    Yes. Yes, I do.

  • Life On A Table

    A table scape showing headphones, a journal, bible, art supplies, maps, a laptop, tea, and game cards.

  • Fear Setting

    My family has some big decisions to make in the near future. In the midst of everything else that is going on in the world at large, these decisions seem both trivial and monumental at the same time. It is a perfect storm that can lead to fear and stagnation.

    Part of me is desparate to have the decision made and to be moving forward in a direction that should bring some permenance to our lives. Right now I crave stability, rhythm, and the ability to craft a simplistic lifestyle.

    The other part of me wants to make wise decisions and to be steady, patient, and willing to wait for the best. It craves the ability to look back and say without a doubt that we made the right decision.

    Fear setting is a concept created by Tim Ferris. I was introduced to it in his book The Four Hour Workweek and again in his Ted talk on the topic. The idea is to list out your fears and what is the worst that could happen. Then, you figure out what you are going to do if that very worst thing happens.

    I will be doing this exercise with the decisions we have to make and let you know how it goes.