Staying creative while recovering from surgery

It may or may not be a surprise to many of you that I’m having some surgery I’ve put off over a year now in about a week. At the risk of a little too much information and full disclosure, this will basically make me house-bound for the next six weeks provided all goes well. I figured if I HAD to do this, January-February would be the best time as work wise, it’s is (as far as weddings) our ” off-season “, a good time not to send couples into a panic and just plain crappy outside as well!

Last night though, I was reading an article about “thinking out of the box” and ” personal projects” to keep the creative juices flowing. This got me wondering: if I’m physically capable during the recovery time, what kind of small project  limited to my house, could I take on? There are the obvious ones: six weeks of self-portraits. Photograph every meal (boring!) . Shoot timed exposures out the windows for six weeks? Try and illustrate boredom maybe… It’s hard to say as I do not know how I’ll be feeling or where the pain levels will be at. I may just want to sleep through it all. I am preparing to watch a LOT of movies, including all the Harry Potter films, which should finally seem much more tolerable on Vicodin, no doubt.

Ideally, I’d love to start shooting right in the beginning, getting photojournalistic images of doctors–but that might not go over so well at Yale…getting wheeled in, iPhone in hand….half crocked on whatever they dope me up with, banging out Instagrams.

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{i’m certain this is what the hospital room will look like}

My other thought was to keep a journal once I’m able, and start posting daily or every few days right on here, which could be easy but potentially depressing ( “…Ate applesauce and made a doodie today...) So I guess my question is: does anyone have any interesting, yet simple, ideas for this situation? I’ve never been in this position before, so I’m looking for an interesting concept. Any and all ideas are welcome!

Oh and gifts too — send plenty of those 🙂

3 Comments

  1. Christine Blainey on January 3, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    I think you should disable your amazon account so as to avoid any vicodin induced shopping. Unless, you are preparing for my birthday?

  2. Maureen Westphal on January 3, 2013 at 6:59 pm

    Wishing you a successful surgery and a speedy recovery! My daughter did a blog during her 8 week recovery from surgery last year. She thought it would be boring, but it was incredibly and surprisingly helpful to others considering the same surgery! Good luck 🙂

  3. Joshua Orr on January 3, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    Let’s hope all goes smoothly and you don’t come out looking like Chaz Bono

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