We as a people, are content-obsessed. Constantly refreshing our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, continuously on the look-out for something new to entertain ourselves with. A new viral, a new blog. A lot of us, myself included, are more preoccupied with getting information into our system instead of putting things out into the world ourselves.
We don’t read as much anymore, not on paper anyway. On-line it can’t be too long either, because we’ll get bored and start looking at cute puppies on YouTube instead. We browse Tumblr, 9Gag, read tidbits of celebrity gossip or on-line feuds. Because it’s easy. Because we don’t have to do anything than click and scroll. We should be writing, but instead we read quotes about writing. Instead of working out, we reblog fitspiration pictures.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with (some of) that. The input is how we entertain ourselves a lot of the time! Reblogging for the win, being on social media is fun, and reading about doing stuff instead of actually doing stuff can serve as learning or getting inspired. But the scale is massively tipping into the ‘I passively take in information’-direction, up to a point where it worries me a little.
Additionally, by continously putting information into ourselves, we get sort of ‘stuffed’. This can clog up our output channels. I notice this within myself. The more I read random, superficial stuff, the less I write myself. When I take in too much (useless) content, my own output doesn’t flow as easily, you know?.
So I was thinking, what if we turned that around?
What if instead, we started to entertain ourselves by creating output instead of through requiring constant input? What if we focused on creating output instead of feeding ourselves with input? What if we started getting obsessed with putting stuff out into the world?
Instead of reading about writing, actually write something. Instead of looking at that cool Nike commercial, go work out. Instead of looking at the pictures of an experience on-line, go outside and have that experience. Instead of reading about other people on-line, why not go out and meet new people?
Let information or content come out of you instead. Put stuff into the world instead of continuously requiring to be entertained with new input information.
So today, think about your usual input-oriented pattern. Do you go on Twitter and Facebook, how often do you refresh websites, on-line magazines and blogs? Do you create enough or do you want to create more?
How active or how passive are you right now in your day-to-day-living?
And why not today, before you do your usual round of getting information into your system, sit down and think to yourself:
What do I want to put into the world right now What do I want to create today?
Active entertainment is not only healthy for body and brain, creating things from within yourself gets you more in touch with what matters to you. Which makes you happier and makes you go in the right direction more often!
And creating things in your life is not just in the creative-type way. Sure, it can be creative in the sense of making art, designing, writing your own article or just journaling or doodling for yourself. But you can also create with your body, whether it’s exercise, dance, yoga or any other physical activity.
Alternatively, if creativity doesn’t have your real interest, you can think “What do I want to create for myself today?” A clean and organized environment, some alone time, a healthy recipe, more knowledge about a study topic, peace of mind by getting a dreaded task out of the way.
What do you want to create in your social life? More fun gatherings with friends, more one-on-one quality time, more time with your family? See if you can bring that into existence.
What do you want to create in the world? If you want more people to understand how you function with your disorder, you can write an article about it. If you want to create more general friendliness or happiness for others, start with yourself and take care of someone in need in your environment.
Instead of focusing on getting input, try to focus on creating output. And let me know how you feel when you do. I can always use something new to read. Oh…wait. 😉
Kisses.
Je inspireert me. Hier denk ik ook weleens over na. Niet de hele tijd je laten voeden door de gedachten van anderen, maar zelf ook iets creeren. Vroeger als klein kind kon ik daar heel blij van worden. Uren lang schrijven, tekenen, kleuren, en dat allemaal ook voor mezelf. Nu is wel vaak wat je maak ook meteen weer gericht op de buitenwereld (ehm…bloggen haha). Terwijl het ook heerlijk en vooral rustgevend kan zijn om je eigen gedachten en creativiteit los te laten op een project, gewoon voor jezelf en vanwege de ontspanning.
Challenge accepted.
Oops – I’ve literally just been going through all of my favourite blogs (yours included ;p) searching for new posts to distract me. Guilty!
Very inspiring! I do want a lot of things: create my own business, write a book, that sort of stuff. And I’ve got the time now, but yes, I can also waste a LOT of time by reading things on the internet which I even don’t remember after reading it because it’s crap. So thank you for your blog. You just kicked my ass ;).
I guess that true.
But it’s okay to read about stuff, as long as you do something with it right?
You can actually read helpful stuff.
k heb wel eens een lui moment dat wat surfen fijn is, maar gelukkig ben ik het grootste deel van de tijd wel bezig met echt papier lezen, dingen maken, tekenen, knutselen, beweging,…
Zonder ga ik me echt tam voelen of net hyper 🙂
Ja, ik moet echt weer wat gaan doen! Ik moest net ineens denken aan het boek “Gedragsactivatie bij depressie” dat hier in mijn nachtkastje ligt te verstoffen. Dat boek heeft me destijds overtuigd dat actief worden heel veel verschil kan maken.
Oh, dat boek klinkt als een goed idee – ik zou hem er zeker even bij pakken als je er de energie voor kunt vinden! Liefs.