Getting offline is the easy part

Remaining in what remains

Please don't go/ I will stay

Hi there,

The story goes, the first few years I was off social media, I spent it all on Reddit.

Five things to share:

1. “Wherever you go, there you are,” he used to warn me. This was after he gave up the pleading, and we both settled for defiance; somewhere in between disdain and indifference. I was inconsolable; These walls, I would scream, come alive each morning and raise their voices at me to mock me, to ask how come I'm still here, and he would keep on talking as if I were muted; “You’re not listening to me, wherever you go…” And after the fact, after defiance turned into indifference and there are things you simply cannot sustain on non-feeling, I would look back and realize I never so much as whispered— The screams were all in my head. And after the fact, much later, it bothered me endlessly to find out we were both right: Sometimes you gotta leave, and every time, you must face yourself.

2. Awesome things

   

   River runnin’ free/ You know how I feel

3. A quote I want to share with you:

   “There’s lots of ways to be, as a person. And some people express their deep appreciation in different ways. But one of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation is to make something wonderful and put it out there. And you never meet the people. You never shake their hands. You never hear their story or tell yours. But somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something’s transmitted there. And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation. So we need to be true to who we are and remember what’s really important to us.”

   — Steve Jobs

   Make something wonderful, with a great deal of care and love, and put it out there, or in the words of Seth Godin ship it.

4. On touching grass

   Maybe, baby?

5. A question for you: What have you been paying attention to lately? A song? A book? The trees outside your window?

P.s.

austinkleon.com

That’s all for this week!

Thank you for reading, and share with anyone you think may benefit.

time spent offline is now a monthly analog publication you can get delivered straight to your mailbox with 20 ideas every month.

Until next time,

Mehret