One of the most effective aspects of Rick and Morty is the way the show breaks down the wall between the viewer and the fact that they’re watching a TV show. The epilogue to the finale of Season 3 essentially mocks the audience, “This is how much I’ve done in the time that you were waiting for this show to come back.”

Because, like certain foods or patterns of thought, we’ve been quietly lulled into believing in a television show. Like, viewing the show became a priority somehow surpassing all other chores or activities. And the show is so good that it can poke fun at our dependence on its continual existence!

Then we come to the next quandary: How do we break a negative pattern or bad habit that we seem to be stuck in? As a creative, I would sometimes rather be entertained by other people’s work than producing or showcasing my own stuff. It took a lot of nudging and prodding from friends, colleagues and mentors before I was comfortable even seeking publication.

What I understand now is that it’s a minute-by-minute process of trial-and-error of brainstorming ideas, executing a handful of them and, even then, needing to discard much of what you produced. And this process of burning away the impurities through substantive editing–it’s laborious, time consuming and painful.

Which brings me back to my original point: The big consolation of doing the right thing is that it is cumulative. Instead of waiting for that next distraction, be it whipping out your phone or whatnot, we can be proactive in continuing to craft our own narrative via asking the hard questions to ourselves.

Time is going to pass no matter what. Might as well get something done.