Musings about delaying what needs to be done while waiting for a non-existent better opportunity. Are you the one who builds the snowman?
Before you know it, the streets are covered under a thick blanket of snow. The pristine landscape that is in front of you marks a new start: an abundance of resources and opportunities waiting for you to seize them. You can either tread lightly as you try to avoid disturbing the flat white surface or jump excitedly into a heap of snow to make your mark on the world. The choice is yours.
With the world outside resembling a winter wonderland (side note: if you are Dutch this only ever goes for those in the eastern part of the country), there are those who hole up inside to hibernate when the first snowflakes start to fall only to wake up again when spring arrives. What happens in the months in between? If you are not out there to seize new opportunities, you will have to make do with what others leave you. It will be a world shaped by those that jumped headfirst into the snow to build the best snowman they can using the resources at their disposal.
What those on the outside don’t know is that you are eagerly working on your worldbuilding skills on the inside. A shadow world so to speak that only you can access. In this world, the ground is also covered with snow, but the blanket of snow is not as prominent. You don’t need to pay much attention to it because your mind can instantly move it out of your way and put it someplace safe where it can lie at ease undisturbed by those that want to use it or get rid of it.
You are busy solving issues that only matter in your private little world. Real-world issues that are still only a shadow of the problems out there. The same goes for your solutions. They are admirable even though you are the only one that can judge.
As you get ready to merge the two worlds and disturb the snowy landscape that became even more beautiful but less abundant over time, you notice that the two worlds don’t fit into each other very well. They’ve grown apart in too many ways. In the time that passed, the snow outside froze into a slippery surface that challenges you every step along the way.Â
After a misstep, you end up speeding towards the very place that you need to reach. It is ready for you, welcoming you with words from a mouth filled with stalactites and stalagmites. Your mind can’t shove them out of the way so instead, you embrace them as you brace yourself for the winter storm that is coming your way. In the warm embrace of everything that still needs to be done, you find comfort in the thought that spring will come, eventually.
