Yet Another Dysfunctional Account
When we were first introduced to our shadow box assignment, I was entirely excited to be given free rein, but with what seemed like a crippling limitation of only abstract sound and shape. I was looking forward to learning something new, and being pushed outside of what I was comfortable with. I think that my enthusiasm to better myself and broaden my understanding actually ended up hurting me by making me feel like I had to defend my individual ego and, in turn, resist any changes I hadn't thought of myself. I didn't even realize that I was being controlling until it was pointed out to me. Of course, I had noticed that we hadn't exactly been radiating flow and collaboration, but I was so wrapped up in the idea and the activity that I had all but forgotten that I was working primarily with people. At first I thought that by collaborating through our shapes, we would eventually find a sequence that fit the beginning/middle/end sequence that we were going for. But once we made the decision to concentrate on the form our story would take, we were much better able to use everyone's ideas. For me, the lesson I learned about ego versus collaboration was just as important as what I learned about form and shadow.