Hello love!
There have been a few chats, articles and the like recently that I have seen and contributed to, about the effects of too much time online on our work life, family life, mental health and more.
People seem to yearn for a life without all of this noise and distraction. There is a broad acknowledgment that we don’t really enjoy much of our online lives.
I know from my own personal experience that too much online life and social media in particular stifles creativity. Far from helping people generate ideas, be inspired and gather creative thoughts by witnessing what the world has to offer us, too much time in these spaces actually does the opposite of this.
Yes, put simply It distracts us from our own thoughts, but it also throws us into cycles of comparison, scarcity and lack, which affect the way we feel and how available we are to thinking bigger, differently, expansively.
The way in which information and content is delivered to us in little snacky titbits, soundbites and micro thoughts allows us to stay in a state of distraction and paddling in the shallows, neither of which are good places to find creativity.
Too much time online, skimming, surfing and taking bites out of other people’s content blunts the edge of what we have to offer.
So it distracts us, dulls our creativity, saps our productivity and makes us feel worse about our own lives at times.
And yet. How many of our minutes and hours, every day and every week are spend online, using social media and doing other things like checking emails, commenting on people’s posts, watching videos on YouTube and the like? And how much of this is stuff that we didn’t really consciously choose to engage with?
We continue, in part I think, because we’re no longer sure what to do. We fantasise about the ‘giving up’ but we don’t know how to fill the time we are currently giving over to these habits we have formed. We also know that giving up is probably not really an option or something we fully want.
What we want is balance.
I read something from a nutritionist recently which gave the advice that to eat a more healthy diet, don’t pledge to give up sugar, wheat, processed foods or whatever you perceive your problem as being. Don’t subtract. Simply start to ADD more of the stuff in that IS good for you AND that you enjoy eating.
Over time as you add more good and enjoyable stuff in, you have less space on the plate for the stuff you’d be better avoiding or cutting back on. And you retrain yourself to appreciate the different pleasures of the stuff that does you more good.
We can (and must) take this approach with our work and creative lives too. Stop focusing on subtracting and think about what we can add in.
Because if our creativity and our ability to go deep is a key part of how we earn our income and we make our contribution to the world, it makes sense that we make space for doing that and that we also try to avoid things that would negatively affect our ability to do that.
The importance of the additions being ‘nutritious’ to our creativity and wellbeing AND being enjoyable to us is key. Just as no-one got healthier try to make themselves eat kale when they hate it (sorry kale, you know I do love you!) we will not take ourselves away from the compelling shallows of the online world if we don’t add enriching, fun stuff to our lives.
Creativity comes in many forms and we all know that some of our best ideas for our work do not happen as we sit in front of a computer anyway. So for me, enriching ourself creatively happens at all times of the day and week. I also need my non work time to help me switch off, recharge and renew.
Creativity is based on observation. Of other people, of the world around us and of our own inner world, our own minds, thoughts and our imagination.
So how to stimulate this and find ways that keep us away from the shallows?
Reading
The first obvious way is reading. I have read a few writers commenting about this recently,
mentions this in a recent piece, that reading is necessary to her writing and I agree. You become a better writer (a better person actually) by being a voracious, conscientious reader.For my work, not as a writer per se, but as someone who uses the reading of non fiction books and articles to fuel my own ideas for my work with creative women, reading is essential. But I also read a lot of fiction, in evenings and at weekends, to escape, to observe other kinds of lives and to see the world, other time periods. I also enjoy British cosy crime fiction! I read between 60-80 books a year usually (and yes I do keep a list!)
Creative skills
Another place to direct your time and creativity is into a creative hobby or skill. Not something related to the creative work you get paid for, something else, something for fun but also to stimulate your creative brain in a different way.
At the moment I am enjoying a monthly junk journaling group with
and for my recent birthday I asked for, and received, art supplies such as acrylic markers, pastels, sketch books, a weaving loom and some textile threads. Spending time cutting, sticking, pattern making and sewing, for me, gives me time with my thoughts, it slows my mind down and it allows stuff to bubble up, all whilst having the satisfaction of creating something interesting or beautiful.As Mihaly Csikszentmihaly we are at our most creative in that wonderful ‘flow’ state, so it is good to choose something which is a little challenging but very doable, achievable, for you to get real absorbed in it.
Getting into your body
AKA exercise. For me it’s walking and yoga but I have a mountain bike mad husband and a son who is a runner and they both rate those as ways of getting way from their screens, absorbing nature and boosting their though processes. A regular exercise regime such as a daily walk, a twice weekly run or a yoga class gets you out of the house, away from the online world and often into the company of others which leads me on to…
Spending time with other people
I had a few hours with my friend
last week. I don’t think I picked up my phone once. But I did have a wonderful chat, over a meal, about books, politics, the new puppy, kids, mental health and goodness knows what else.I enjoy the light touch chat at my yoga class before it begins and this lunchtime I will go to the village hall for the weekly lunch club and eat soup and chat to neighbours and friends. Again, away from phone and computer and face to face with real live people - the joy!
Being with other people that you like and value is, even for an introvert like me, very nourishing and sparks my creativity too. I also have a monthly co working day with a friend and that really does spark creativity as we talk work and business ideas as well as getting stuff done.
So, there are my thoughts about adding not subtracting. I know when I add these things in, make time for offline connections, hobbies and interests, I simply don’t have time or opportunity to pick up my phone or pull out the laptop. Some discipline is required, I leave my phone in another room when I read for example. But I do find by adding, I get the result that I want.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and what else you could add to my list of things to add into your live to bring back balance, boost your creativity and sooth your digitally frazzled mind?
With love,
Sarah x
The image at the top is a section of a page that I made in my creative junk journal recently. TEND is one of my words of the year.
This is really lovely Sarah, I really enjoyed it x
I love this idea of adding in to squeeze out the other stuff