Over the week, I’ve been reading a few blog posts that have really impacted the way I look at my life, my schedule, and my creative process. Both Folk Rebellion and The Fresh Exchange have been writing some incredible posts on creative challenge and saying goodbye to your smartphone. I’ve been challenged to think about the role that I have allowed technology to play in my life, willingly, without even calling into question the ways that I have adapted to my smartphone, computer, and iPad. Not even knowing it, I still can’t tell you how to get around the city I live in, even though I’ve lived here for 5 months. I can’t tell you some of the “new” phone numbers of my relatives (and by new I mean 4 years). My creative process always begins with Pinterest or Instagram taking screenshots of what I like and loosely adapting it for the next blog post or project I am working on. I don’t keep inspiration files, don’t make grocery lists, and can’t seem to remember much of anything.
Truth be told, my phone is my alarm clock. I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night looking at my phone. Most of us would probably reclaim much of our lives by giving our phone a rest. It would change the way we create, force us to reconnect with living authentically, rather than mirroring the ideas of others, and allow us to be our truest selves.
This weekend, I hope to step away from the screen. I will dare to risk, to risk with strokes and marks in my sketchbook. I will write down vivid ideas and dreams from my mind’s eye into my journal. I will cook, laugh, celebrate, and cultivate my life.
The screens can wait.
This weekend, may you dare to make something brilliant.