Creativity Reset
Day 15 of 31: 200 Words-a-Day Challenge
We are halfway there! Are you playing along? Even if you haven’t, jump in now! The rules are simple. If you need my prompt below, use it. If not, still write. JUST WRITE....as many words as you need to. Use the PREVIOUS and NEXT buttons to find other posts in the challenge you may have missed.
Creativity Reset
During the pandemic, I was jealous of folks who told about catching up on their reading, beginning a new hobby, finally starting… and finishing… the novel they always dreamed of writing. Since my husband’s job had been decimated by the lockdown and because much of my business was already online, I had to rachet up the workload, which meant decreasing my time writing and increasing my time with tech.
Thus, by July 2022, I was simply fried. The world had become too noisy for me.
To retaliate, I orchestrated what I dubbed a Creativity Reset. I went on a month-long social media and news diet, and technology detox.
To prepare, I methodically unsubscribed from emails and removed myself from Facebook groups. I turned off app and email notifications on my phone. I drastically reduced the number of Zoom calls I scheduled or agreed to be on.
As creator/admin for the Women Writing for Change Facebook group, including being a host for the weekly co-writing Zooms we do there, things got a little tricky. But thanks to friends who helped, I made it work.
During the first week of the month, I gradually weened myself from Facebook and Instagram, decreasing the time on both my phone and my computer with each passing day. While I couldn’t cut out technology 100% (can anyone?), I used the minimum amount necessary for my business and to stay connected with my distant family. I never used it after 9pm and replaced evening “surfing” with reading time before bed.
I wrote more.
The tech detox/socmed diet was an act of self-care, something new to me. In the past, I would have kept “plugging away.” But I needed to get my focus back. I’d learned from Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism what was happening to my brain on social media, and I didn’t like it.
I was reminded of all this when a friend told me over breakfast recently that my reset last year inspired her to try it for herself this year.
Well, July has begun already and we’re midway through this challenge. But August feels like the perfect month to repeat my Creativity Reset.
Your Prompt / Day 15 of 31
How does time spent on social media and on your devices affect the various aspects of your life? Your focus? Your relationships? Your writing? What would your Creativity Reset look like?
Please share by posting what you write into the comments or Notes. And to comment on others’ shared writing: (1) be kind, (2) don’t critique unless explicitly requested, (3) tell the writer what in their writing resonated with you, made you think differently, or was an ‘aha’ for you.
Thanks for joining me in this challenge! Please invite your friends.
Reset is so important and like you I learned too little, too late HOW important it is. I don't think I'm in a place where I can take a month off, especially with trying to get traction here on substack these days, but you have made me re-commit to doing my weekly sabbath with more intention: one day a week where I do not work, and focus on rest and recuperation!