If I Were Focused — A PowerHouseCreatives Contest

If I were focused
on things that mattered
closest to the most,
and not so scattered
all around the place,
less energy'd be lost.

If I were capable
of sacrifice
of all things second-place,
the time would be
enough for me
to really own that race.

If I were...

...to continue like this, I would have to make about a dozen more stanzas of vague, short lines that told almost no story. Or would they? My life has been all places it seems, and by all places, I mean things of interest, passions, hobbies, career ideal, dream goals, inspiration and experience that has been dear to me so far...

But I want it do stay that way. Life lived everywhere could never be boring, no burnout would ever catch me. And maybe this is a problem in terms of success. Reaching one goal. Top-level something.

Say... a top-level professional photographer. Because a photographer is what I call myself now. But I have called myself other things before.

If I were just ten inches taller,
I would have been a basketballer.

...that's it.

There were times I dubbed myself a basketball player. I was a high school student back then but that was number two. I cared about basketball the most. Of NBA, as all kids do, or the equivalent in their respective choice of sports. I played a lot, learned a lot, felt good. But I was only 180 cm tall. So no pro play for me...

Yeah, that's in the past now. And it was maybe the first thing to stick around when my identity crisis tried to hit and was resolved without a second thought. Or was it?

Later, I was a metalhead. Is that a goal? Nope, it's a state of being. What do you do with your life? You rock.

Then a dungeon master...

A writer wannabe...

A fencer...

An archer...

A gamer...

A guitar player...

Many avenues I could have gone for if I were to pick my thing and stay with it.

Anyway, see, it's easy to lose focus. I am talking not exactly short-term focus, no long-term focus, although, like in optics, from one point on it all becomes focus on infinity and not a specific distance...So I have long term goals, but vague. I have short-term focus good enough for a few seconds to produce a shot. But mid-term...

Right, photographer, that's what I am, right? Any length of a term ;) But is that specific enough? If you are not a photographer, you might think so. Or if live in a former age where there were so few that the town's photographer had to do it all. Now...

To be catching up, even, in that race I spoke about, I have to pick one main genre and stick to it. Improve there, focus my energy and attention. Be the best.

And then what? Get old and be sorry about the things I left on the way?

Maybe...it's not so bad to be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. For in the end, I shall be able to say:

I jacked it all!
If I were focused,
I'd succeed
A thing or two.
But then again,
That wouldn't be me.

The image is a screenshot of a highlight video provided by Blizzard Entertainment after a play I made in the Overwatch game.

This post was made as an entry for the PowerHouseCreatives contest If I Were by @zord189.

Good luck to you all and have a focus!

Yours,

Manol