My Mantra This Year
Inspiration From Across the Internet/Thoughts I Wanted to Share
1. In the past, to have an advantage, you had to go fast, faster than a slow-moving world.
Today, in our interconnected, machine-powered world, I’m inclined to believe that there is an increasing advantage to going slow, being more considered in your actions than those around you.
In that spirit, my focus this year is to slow down.
Even just a couple of years ago I would have freaked out if I heard myself saying that. I would have gone, “what is wrong with you, there is so much to do/see/experience, and you wanna slow down?!”
Now to clarify: by slow down, I don’t mean stop doing or making things. I just mean that I intend to do it all more slowly. I enjoy myself so much more when I do things this way, I learn a lot more as I go along and I’ve also noticed something else — the quality of my work increases. I have found there to be a very clear relationship between how quickly I’m going through life and the quality of what I’m making.
This urgency to put out quantity is a widespread occurrence in this high-speed world. We see people rushing all around us, and therefore we think we need to rush too. We have arbitrarily made up timelines for how long things should take. But the truth of the matter is that if you’re interested in making art, you’re always in for a ride: I never know how it’s gonna go, how long it will take me, or where I will end up. And in many ways, this is exactly why I do it.
But beyond enjoying myself more and (hopefully) making higher quality things, I really just feel called to do it. I feel called to live my life differently.
I’d like to trip over myself a little less often in my rush to do it all. I’d like to practice eating more slowly, reflect more often on my impulses, and reduce the pressure I create around the things that I make. I have a feeling an awful lot of discoveries could come out of doing things this way.
2. This man in his 50s tells the story of his journey through life as an artist and I found the whole thing fascinating. He looks back on the previous decades of his life, the impact his fundamentalist church upbringing had on him, breaking out of that world in his 20s, feeling lost in his 30s, giving up on his dream to make music at 40 while also broke and homeless, and then “making it” near the age of 50 after he had already found contentment in his life. Because of course that’s how life works.
I just wanted to share this because it’s such a breathe of fresh air in contrast to all of the success stories of young people we are bombarded with all the time.
It’s a 5 part series that I listened to like a podcast. Above I linked part I, and here’s part II, part III, part IV and part V.
3. Are we growing up in a world that’s falling apart? ‘Doomed’ is not a word I’d like my generation to be characterized by but it’s certainly a candidate. It’s hard not to get cynical when you see so many terrible things taking place around the world.
Perhaps the worst part is that cynicism and negativity do nothing but contribute to the problem. But when you feel entirely powerless, what are you supposed to do?
I made this film in an attempt to answer this question (to myself).
Music Recommendations
1) Another attempt to answer the question of the world falling apart.
2) Growth
Thanks for reading,
Nathaniel
