PROTECTING THE ARTIST IN ME

WHY I BELIEVE IN CREATING BOUNDARIES TO KEEP THE ARTIST WITHIN US ALIVE.

One exercise that I started to do in the past 2-3 years is to sit down, in a quiet corner, in a quiet moment, and compare a situation or circumstance to a similar moment 10 or 20 years ago. With it, I can try to see what’s different these days. So, I cram in the memory books in my head and with that one particular situation lately, I have realised the following:
We are exposed to a massive, and sheer endless amount of information, and news sources. 24 hours a day. This was not the case 20 years ago. Not in my life.

Social media, the internet, and your international network, all feed us with input, information, opinions, views, stories, photographs, video snippets, interviews, and so forth.

I believe that when we don’t filter that information, we can easily overwhelm us to the point that we “freeze”. But who teaches us to filter? No one does, it’s quite the opposite. I even feel pressured to know all the latest “news” simply because society is asking if I have heard this, and what’s your opinion on that, etc.

Filter. Boundaries.

It doesn’t come from an ignoring or bad point of view. It comes from knowing very clearly what the mental and physical health impact an overconsumption of negative content can have, and intervening early enough to balance it out with positives.

That’s what we either haven’t learned to do, or easily forget to do.

Every time, the world needs to deal with another inhumane, life-destroying, and dangerous situation, I feel I want and need to embrace the artist in me even more. I turn to creation, and with it, I digest, reflect, take time to think deeply and put my feelings into art. I protect myself and make use of the right to appreciate the luxury that I can do that. I say thank you and am grateful for the ability to have the energy to keep creating for another day.