27: step one: take a step!

february 3rd, 2025

an analogue comic this week! I’m not sure if I’m really conveying my recent explorations clearly here, although the part about not knowing how to start feels pretty spot-on. I think what’s not depicted as clearly here are the times where it’s not that I don’t have *any* plans, but rather that I’ve crafted plans that sound great in isolation — without taking into account the contexts they’ll actually be playing out in. “script this week’s page Monday afternoon and draw it while watching movies with my friends that night” sounds lovely in theory, but in practice once I get there I’m gonna wanna watch the movie and engage with my loved ones!!!!! whereas a plan like “take an hour to script, doodle, and post a different page on paper once I get home” is much more compatible with the actual levels of time, focus, energy, etc I’m actually working with. voilà! :3

.

transcript:
[this comic is drawn in black marker in a physical sketchbook, with Blobic depicted in a stick-figure version of his usual character design.]

I’m learning how to set realistic goals for myself!

it’s easy to come up with ambitious dreams and try to achieve them through sheer willpower . . . rather than an actual plan
[Blobic crouches at a runner’s starting block, preparing to sprint towards a distant thought balloon imaging him surrounded by a house, dollar signs, a pencil, and hearts. the thought balloon is labeled “Step Four: Profit,” while the track beneath Blobic consists of Steps One through Three: “???”]

this makes it very difficult to get started, and without starting there’s no way to finish
[“Step One: ???” is now printed in large font on a presentation board. Blobic stares at it and says, “…hmm. maybe tomorrow I’ll know what this means”]

so lately I’ve been refocusing on where I’m actually at, and on the journey as well as the destination
[Blobic stands on one edge of a diverse landscape, filled at various points with grass, forests, rough terrain, flowers, and rivers, with a house on the far side. all Blobic can see from his vantage point is the hill immediately in front of him, but no matter — he proclaims, “my compass says to go this way, so let’s climb this hill!”]

.