The Goodreads reading challenge has knocked me over, I am 4 books behind for the year. Others who have undertaken the challenge are going bonkers about the number of books they could finish.
Thankfully, I have the eccentric characteristic of caring less about things that people care too much about, so I am coping with the lack of books under my belt.
How many books have you read this year? or more important question- how many have you enjoyed? How many movies did you watch? or art galleries you surfed online (everything is online, musesums too). Did you manage to get the painting done that you were working on? or that graphic novel you started back in 2020?
No, this is not a productivity guru's attempt to make you feel bad about how many things you have achieved and what to do lists you conquered.
My questions are merely for your introspection. To answer to yourself and to see the relationship of consuming art with creativity.
Have you been feeling burnt out? Want to think of social media campaigns that will trigger emotions, but you simply cannot?
Did that email subject line sound too lengthy and you loathed yourself for having ''let the skill slip''?
I have good news for you: You are still as skilled as you were when you created that viral piece of content. You are still as insightful as you were when that blog series took LinkedIn by storm. All that is lacking is some food for your soul (and mind).
A simple google search will show you how world leaders and most successful entrepreneurs make sure they are feeding their soul by consuimg not just information but art in their everyday life. Bill gates has his 50 book list, Oprah Winfrey has a worldwide book club, most top advertising and marketing gurus are cinephiles. Graphic designers, more often than not, can be seen painting/sketching away their idle moments.
No art (including all social media and marketing content creation) occurs in vaccum. We are made of our circumstances and our experiences. More we feel and understand, better our perpection of this world and higher our quality of work turns out.
Oftentimes a word shall speak what accumulated volumes have labored in vain to utter: there may be years of crowded passion in a word, and half a life in a sentence.
- Thomas Wentworth Higginson
This morning, I read a newsletter I had ignored for 6 months by my favourite instagrammer- Rega Jha. It woke me up with a jolt, stirred my long suppressed emotions and I ended up channeling my feelings in 4 different pieces of content (including this article) without much effort.
Give it a try, you don't like long pieces of writing? Read articles on LinkedIn. You can't sit through 2 hour long ''slice-of-life'' movies? Watch youtube videos. Can't spend too much time gardening? Pot one plant.
Sow life, reap art.
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