JacobApril is almost over and it’s gotten me thinking about where I’ve said I want to be, and where I am. For a few months since the start of the year I took on some additional work which derailed my plans a bit, but my focus has still been on school and adjusting to my new work place.
A big change I’ve found this year has been my relationship with social media. I used to be an avid twitter user, reddit user, instagram user, tumblr user – all of these in different eras so to speak. But lately I’ve found myself finding solace in self improvement and focus, and finding social media lacking. Aside from a few mornings or nights in bed letting reels rot my brain, I’ve found myself avoiding it altogether with most of my energy put into podcasts and youtube.
Which isn’t surprising. These are, after all, the arenas I’ve found myself most drawn to creatively. Part of my lifestyle change has involved putting things into motion to make myself more comfortable pursuing these as a creator and not just a spectator, though I’ve been finding other commitments taking up a lot of time from pursuing these. Also unsurprisingly is that I’ve found myself distracted by other creative forms, primarily web design for school courses, but in the last few weeks I’ve been asking myself to niche down and focus when it comes to my limited me-time. With some of these distractions out of the way, I think I’ve set the foundations needed to begin exploring my creativity.
I’m giving myself some time, and some grace. Last year was my year of big changes, and this year is one of progress. I’ve often read that progress builds upon itself, with the little changes that feel insignificant compounding over time. With this in mind I’ve formulated some new goals for the next quarter:
- Embrace imperfection, and forgive mistakes.
- Commune with nature every day.
- Consistency is key.
Looking ahead, I think these mantras will be better for my sanity than trying to stick to arbitrary numbers – maybe that’s a thing for next year when school is over. I want to make this catch up a semi-quarterly thing, if not monthly, and I definitely want to start getting my portfolio pulled together and start exploring opportunities in the field. But for now though, I’m focusing on myself, building comfortability and creativity, and it feels great. And sure, some of that is just the zoloft. But like publicity and press, any progress is good progress.
