New Years resolutions – Journeys of a Hybrid

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I miss from my “analog” days. I’m far from being a Luddite; in fact if anything I’m just the opposite, continually embracing technology and using it to grow creatively. I’m having the time of my life right now exploring a variety of mediums and I’m amazed at the global reach that I have as an artist and a member of the human race.

It’s a powerful time to be alive, because the world is literally at our fingertips. But I’m finding that as much as technology has “connected” more of us together, these “viral connections” are vastly different than our “analog” connections. I’m not just referring to how we connect with each another, but also how we connect to ourselves and figure that out amongst all the noise.

So, I got to thinking about how I could be more “analog” in the New Year. Here’s some things I came up with:

Cut in half, the amount of time I spend interacting with people on social media platforms, and spend that time instead on personal interactions.

Get together more, face-to-face with clients, colleagues and friends. Gosh, I think this is what I miss the most – people just don’t make the time for this anymore. And chatting via text, email and FB isn’t the same.

Write more letters, and send printed invitations and cards in the mail rather than always electronically.

Go online less often and have a specific purpose or task in mind when I do.

Make images the best I can in camera. Just because I can change an image digitally in post – doesn’t mean that I always need to do that.

Create something printed – a photograph, a portfolio, an exhibition or a book.

Read more printed books on the couch, the porch, the beach or in bed.

Read a printed newspaper on a Sunday morning. ( If I can find one.)

Walk more in nature instead of on the treadmill.

Stare at a fire and look up at the sky more often.

Anyone else have suggestions on how to live more analog?

This is the time of year when we look back at our past year – our ups, our downs and everything in between. And we all pretty much look forward with optimism for a better year ahead – making pledges to ourselves with good intentions, to do better or be better in the New Year.

But what happens when you break the pledge that you made to yourself early in the year? Many of us tend to feel that we’ve somehow failed if we don’t live up to our own expectations with our yearly resolutions. Some of us think it’s better not to even make resolutions or have any expectations.

As for me, I look at every day as a new day rather than limit my aspirations to an annual event.

Times Square, New Years Eve, NYC — Times Square

Every day that I wake up is a “fresh start” for me. Any given day comes with the hope of possibilities. Anything can happen, especially if I open my mind to that way of thinking. Rather than pledge every New Year’s Eve that next year will be better – I tell myself every day that the yesterday is gone, and I don’t know if there will be a tomorrow, so all I have is the now.

I do know that I’ve grown personally this past year. I have learned to quiet my mind and in doing so I have gotten more in touch with myself. I question myself as to why I think I may want to do something. If the answers are mostly ego driven – I dismiss the notion. The more I get in touch with who I am and listen to my own voice, the more I have to give. I have opened my heart with no expectations in return but have been richly rewarded by doing so.

I wish I had learned all that I learned this past year, a long time ago. But everything has its own time and I needed to get through all those days along the way. That’s what makes life worth living.

Here’s to every new day.