How craving attention makes you less creative.

I do this thing lately where I want new ideas, inspiration and knowledge so I use my lunch breaks to watch or read something that is of interest to me. I think since starting about 2 months ago its had a really positive effect on my life. 

It got me thinking about what I spend my time on, what my goals are and how those things come together. 

Because I mean....I semi grew up with the internet. I like most have a problem with my "monkey brain" (the brain that wants to play and waste time and likes all the flashing lights and games) getting distracted often but I'm concious of that and I'm trying to work on it. 

I've been trying to declutter my digital/internet life as well as my feeds and in general give less time to social media. ( I failed HUGE at this last week when I was sick.) Some things that I've done to accomplish this are:

1. Spending less time on Instagram (again I failed huge last week when I was sick. I spent hours on IG from my bed BUT I felt the effects and felt my FOMO sinking in and my depression starting.)

2. Unfollowing things/people that don't have a positive effect on my life. 

3. I put my phone AWAY - I leave it in my desk drawer, I charge it upstairs when I'm at home working on art, and when I am in the same room as my phone it's pretty much always on silent. (For those who are very addicted to their phones/attention, I don't bring my phone to the wash room, I don't look at my phone first thing in the morning, I never have my phone out while I'm driving, I leave my phone in my car when shopping so even if I have to wait in line I am present and waiting.)

4. I have KEY SOURCES - so if I'm bored, I don't just log onto FB, or scroll through IG. I have bookmarked sites where I go when I'm a little bored or need a spark but that have proven to give me good quality content. Like TED! 

Since making these changes I AM MORE CREATIVE! You guys, I have SO many ideas, I tell you that all the time. I have so much that I want to do and accomplish that I just don't feel like there's enough time to do it all and they don't stop coming. IT'S AMAZING! 

Now, I'm not saying they're all good lol but they are there. And I think that taking the above steps REALLY helped me find that. I now put myself in situations where my brain just thinks. Where it's not a slave to endless advertisements which is essentially what IG is most of the time between actual ads and influencers etc. 

Anyways, this was the TED Talk that found me today, it was a great reminder of the positive way these changes affected my life, positivity and creativity. If you're a creative hell, even if you're not I highly recommend trying them. 

xo

Faye