Let Walking Be Your Reset Button

Adrian S. Potter
3 min readFeb 12, 2022

Because Control-Alt-Delete doesn’t work in the real world.

Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash

The Secondhand Inspiration Project begins with a motivational quote and ventures wherever the creative path meanders.

“When I’m in turmoil, when I can’t think, when I’m exhausted and afraid and feeling very, very alone, I go for walks. It’s just one of those things I do. I walk and I walk and sooner or later something comes to me, something to make me feel less like jumping off a building.” ― Jim Butcher

It is a typical Friday afternoon mired in stress. A deadline looms, and a client is demanding their deliverables. Your team, in various locations due to COVID, seems inefficient working remotely. Each task feels like a loose end begging to get tied up, and all you want to do is slam your fists on your desk and curse.

It is another late evening sitting with your laptop open. You find yourself caught in the tangles of another creative dead end. Only a handful of sentences grace the screen, a tiny yield for the hours you donated to your craft. You have squandered another chance to make progress on your novel. Doubt triggers the usual negative internal dialogue as you mentally debate if you are a writer since you cannot write…anything.

Home should be peaceful, but things tonight seem steeped in frustration. Your spouse refuses to…

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Adrian S. Potter

Antisocial Extrovert · Writer and Poet, Engineer, Consultant, Public Speaker · Writing about self-improvement, gratitude, and creativity · www.adrianspotter.com