For my 2-day self-designed challenge I chose to attempt to write a short play, while not eating, speaking, or sleeping. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I for the most part succeed on the not eating or speaking (I did chew gum and I accidentally spoke several times), however I definitely did not succeed on no sleeping. My play script turned to be a 7 scene short play.
I started the challenge by waking up on Monday, and not eating breakfast or speaking. After a brief meeting with my small support group, I headed down to the Tech-Barn to begin work on writing. It was extraordinarily slow going at first, I kept erasing everything I had written once I got about 2 pages in over and over again for hours. Once I got a foothold, it was time to go to upper-camp for dinner.
Once I went to dinner, and didn’t eat dinner, I continued work on my project. It was still slow going and I had trouble trying to focus. My slight missing of school that I have been having for the last couple months temporarily went away as I realized how rusty I was at focusing and doing grueling writing projects. After evening meeting, I went back to the Tech-Barn where I worked on my play for many hours. I almost fell asleep several times, and I struggled with the ever dropping temperatures, trying to type with numb fingers, wishing I had Long-Johns and something more substantial than a medium fleece.
After getting an unexpected call from a friend (I’ll admit silence was broken for a little bit here), I continued revising and updating already written parts of my assignment. Waves of intense longing for sleep kept hitting me hard, and I was so hungry I thought I was going eat my hand.
I then headed back up the hill- a fatal mistake I would later find out. After sitting on the couch in the common-area for a while, my tortured mind decided I would write better if I laid down on the couch to relax better. I ended up falling asleep right there, computer open and cursor blinking, awaiting further text entry.
After waking up about 30 minutes late or so. I heard rats scurrying around me and I could hardly think of what to write next. I attempted to continue, to power-through, but, alas, I dreamily wandered to the tee pee and fell asleep.
I awoke, miraculously, at about 7:00. I quickly dressed and floated back down to the Barn. Writing then just poured out of me. I finished writing the second half of my play in 1/10th the time it took me to write the first half. After completing, I read my work and felt that I definitely could have done better in a moment of deep self reflection. In the end, I’m not that proud of my short and flouncy product, but more, the work I put into it. Who knows, I might continue to refine and lengthen this script and it might one day be on Broadway. It was a valuable experience and I was genuinely fascinated with how my mind worked once the dopamine faucet was turned off.
In the end, I feel that this challenge, in terms of my initial definition of success, was slightly more of a failure than a success. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not sincerely around of the time and work I put into it. Being the last challenge in Paonia, I’m glad this turned out to be memorable. I feel accomplished. I am truly glad I did this Adventure.
1 comment
Comment by Paulned
Paulned Oct 14, 2015 at 8:38 pm
I can’t wait to read it!
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