On Hijacking Ideas (Accidentally)

My brain does some weird things. This is one I only started to notice a few months ago, but it’s been an interesting unconscious behaviour to keep track of within myself. I also have a theory or two as to why it developed (or why I began to notice it), but we’ll get to that in a bit. The behaviour is that, the moment I am presented with a good idea that someone else has come up with, I immediately think of using that idea for myself. I am an unwitting idea pirate, for lack of a better term. The process is a very quick one; I’ll be watching a video or listening to a podcast or whatever, really, and the moment someone else raises an original point or idea, I immediately pick it out, and (this is the important part) I think of the praise I would receive if I used this same idea for myself. It’s rarely, if ever, in the context of a literal exchange of ideas that I carry out this unwitting idea piracy, it only seems to perk its ears when it encounters an idea that I know would be well-received if I fulfilled it, or just well-received in general.

I am very much one for shortcuts. That aversion to expending effort or having to take the long way is a habit I am trying to break by means of subjecting it to more awareness and internal scrutiny, but it’s a likely culprit in this circumstance. That said, it doesn’t offer an explanation as to why this is a pattern of behaviour I’ve only recently noticed in myself. For that, I have only a lukewarm explanation, theoretical, of course. It’s only been in recent months, as my life has entered a far more uncertain stage, that I’ve been thinking creatively, or at least trying to. I will, at some point soon, write about my relationship with other people’s ideas, as that is a rich topic deserving of its own piece.

At this ambiguous point, I’ve been trying to unravel the preconceptions I held about what lies ahead. I know I have to (and deep inside, want to) be creative, and contribute something – anything – to the world. In my admittedly limp attempts to do so, I have been quite limiting as to what I believed I should or even could write, but this behaviour, this idea hijacking, has been a small, welcome nudge in the right direction. Combined with my growing desire to consume great media, I am starting to foster an idea of my own – one that demonstrates to my passivity and self-pity that there are definitely things I can do. More importantly, though, it’s finally beginning to feel like I know where to start. It’s all well and good to churn out a polished, perfect literary masterpiece on my first try, but there’s absolutely no shame to be felt in throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Whatever happens, doing so can teach me what I love and hate writing about, which is a hell of a lot more than I know right now.