Company

by Jose Ordoñez Jr.

I love myself a good personality test. For years I found myself obsessing over the Myers-Briggs, a personality quiz that breaks your personality into four letters, each representing a trait. I carefully analyzed every detail of my type so I could “hack” my best potential. If you can’t see by now, I’m a self-development junkie. The first letter labels you as either an introvert and extrovert, and this brought about a little conundrum for me: Depending on the day I would take the test, I would either be an INTJ or an ENTJ, and each time the split would be 51-49. I did some research and found that I’m actually an ambivert; or an almost perfect split between an introvert and an extrovert. 

Everything made sense! It explains why I was thrilled to teach for eight hours a day, and then get home and lock myself in the room for hours. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone - I needed my introvert time. Today, it’s a different story. Ever since I quit my teaching job to pursue the growth of this company, my social life has taken a hit. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, and I wouldn’t trade my time to do anything else. But I found myself home alone for twelve hours a day, five days a week. You probably know where I’m heading with this.

I started showing signs of heavy anxiety. I had minimal to no interaction with human beings all day long. I sat, stared at a screen, and got to work. Mix that in with the volatility of freelancing and you have the perfect mix for a meltdown. It got bad. My state of mind would not allow me to focus, lowered my creative output, and killed my inspiration. I finally got the courage to speak up, and my wife and I decided that it was time to do something about it. We decided our first step was to get a companion to share her life with us. 

Meet Scout.

We adopted her some weeks ago from the Broward Animal Shelter. We don’t know much about her, other than someone found her as a stray in the streets of Lauderhill. I’m guessing she had previous owners as she understands certain commands such as sit and stay. She wasn’t potty trained, had a respiratory infection, and yet was a perfect fit for us. She’s an adorable Staffordshire Terrier mix, who like me, was looking for someone to spend time with. She is now my emotional support animal.

Please don’t think I’m saying that a pet is a replacement for human interaction; I’ve made it my goal to seek company with family and friends more often. Still, it’s awesome to have a companion with you all day long. My creative output is back to a healthy state, and my focus levels have soared. 

“LOVE PEOPLE, SEEK COMMUNITY AND CHERISH YOUR WORK. ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO PRODUCE MEANINGFUL CREATIONS.”

All this reminds me what art and business is about: Community. Wish Creative is not here to capitalize on you. It’s here for you. We want to create content that promotes education, community and growth. We also want to grow independent cinema and tell stories outside of the Hollywood system. Love people, seek community and cherish your work. Only then will you be able to produce meaningful creations.

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