The "Dead in Tracks" Conundrum

When it comes to the creation of music, I’ve had a healthy habit for years of pulling out my phone and using the voice recording device to record a few quick notes so that I won’t forget the rhythm later.

For whatever reason, I have yet to build in that habit for creative writing.

It’s that precise issue that has led to this exact post. This morning, while I was listening to my usual morning podcasts, I had an epiphany. And it was a good one. It was one that would have surely rocked your world. It was one that could have landed me a book deal. It was one that would have been shared worldwide. I imagine I would have been on Seth Godin’s podcast - and he doesn’t even do interviews.

But then I forgot what it was.

And so, I’ve sat in the same spot drinking cold coffee trying my darnedest to recall what that idea was or what spawned it.

I’ve searched the web for how to view my playback history on my podcast app. I’ve read through transcripts of the podcast episodes. I’ve looked up everything I can feasibly look up to retrace my mental steps.

And I still haven’t recalled the idea.

However, what I have done is waste my own time and mental acuity by thinking about this one thing for so long. I’ve been so hyper-focused on this one genius topic that it has easily taken me an hour longer to think on this blog post than to actually write it.

In fact, I couldn’t write anything other than this: a diatribe on the thing that I can’t remember. Sometimes the only way to move past the thing in our way is to address it. Even if we can’t find the original kernel that caused it - simply calling a spade a spade will often be enough to move past the baggage weighing down our brains.

Sometimes I’m able to recall right away.

Others, like today, I just need to punt it out of my brain and hope for the best.

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March 9th, 2022