Scratching my own itch

So I was noodling around some ideas for a story. First day, super early. Not even sure what it could be. Everything up in the air, thrown at the wall to see what sticks phase. I had an idea then immediately thought, No, I can't do that, I've already done something similar. Oh well. Would have been fun. Then thought, Hang on. I can do whatever I want. So what if I've already done something similar? There's a character out of time - it's a time travel story. Of course there's a character out of time. What of it? So my protagonists are always buttoned up, depressed, and fall in love with a ray of sunshine? There's self-actualisation for everyone. There's the healing power of nature. There's me always trying to write a montage. Late night research in the archives. Standing close. At this point this is all just for me anyway. No one else is reading this. If anyone else was, well, then it's just themes. On brand. I spend all this time and energy writing - why wouldn't it be full of the…