I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live in another time. Instead of a laptop, a pen and paper, instead of a phone, a letter, intend of a phone call, a visit. I feel trapped and somehow condemned to live in a time where everything is an absolute copy of what someone else, in fact, millions of someone else's, are doing. We have become a standardised mass of people who think the same way, revolt the same way and carry on with their lives the same way. Even creativity, or should I say, the process of creativity has evolved into something very standard. We get our inspiration through a screen most of the time. How many people do we know, actually obtain their inspiration from looking out to the sea, a walk in the park, a book read, or even running in a meadow, for crying out loud (Hello, Julie Andrews in Sound of Music).
Let me go into what I really want to explore.
A few weeks ago - or were they really some days ago… I’m beginning to feel that I’m loosing my sense of time and space - someone (wink, wink) sent me a group of charts showing the daily routines of several artists and intellectuals in History, from Beethoven, to Benjamin Franklin, Maya Angelou and even Freud, among several others.
There was something very interesting about all of them.
They all had a very active social life. Not in the sense that they partied like the rockstars that they were, no. Not either in the sense of having loads of friends and being little social butterflies who knew all the who’s who in town. They probably did, but what I really mean by an active social life is simply the way they knew how to interact with other people. You see, nowadays, going out for dinner with a group of friends will definitely involve a lot of instagram snapshots (from foodporn to selfies to group pictures and even those pseudo artistic photos of a wine glass), a lot of texting and chatting with people who are not even around you, and a lot of checking what other people, with seemingly more interesting lives than yours are doing. Come back down to earth, friend. Their lives are just like yours. Probably with a better choice of filter.
In the past, interacting with friends and family on a daily basis, was as normal as having breakfast. They would be with each other and with no one else nor with other futile distractions. Listening was key and in this way ideas would be shared and new ideas would come forth.
This is what I’d like to experience in my time. Not to be so negative, I do have these type of gatherings once in a while. Nonetheless, a truly fruitful gathering of the likes of Mozart and his gang only appear once every blue moon. In fact, they most often come in the form of two nationalities. French and, as I’ve recently found out, Argentinian. I’ve come to the conclusion that these two have a natural passion and need for discussion. A discussion where what is said and shared is much more essential than deciding who’s right or wrong. The point of these conversations is not the convincing someone else you’re right and they’re wrong, but instead, revealing your thoughts on a subject and listening to contrary thoughts to evolve the conclusions you had at the start of the conversation into others that are more confounded. Get it?
My french family has many times forgone dinners and remained in the aperitif portion of the evening, simply because the discussion was very strong. Talking was more essential than eating at that moment. My argentinian friend can sit with me for hours talking about non-ending subjects from “what makes you truly exist” to “when do we truly become individuals”.
I love to talk. And I definitely love a conversation that keeps me on the edge of my seat.
Nowadays (and this doesn’t occur only in my generation) people have a tendency to zap. I am quite aware that I myself have that tendency too. My father tells me that a lot, in fact. “Catherine, tu zap beaucoup. Fais un effort d'être moins comme ça.” I now realize that Pierre is right. We rarely read an article in its entirety. Before we reach the end, we jump to the article on the next tab. In conversations, we zap to another topic as easily as we order another glass of wine. In social media, we jump from Facebook, to Twitter, to Instagram, to whatever is hot and new tomorrow. By now, you have probably zapped to another blog. Sniff, sniff.
In contrast, if you look carefully the habits of those in the chart above, most of the time, they did one thing at a time and with all their soul. A time to read, a time to listen to music, a time to go for a walk, a time to work. Now, you can tell me that they had zero multi-tasking skills, but honestly: how much of each task do you get if you do it all at once? Reading an article, while listening to music, while at work, for example. How well did you understand the article? How well did you did you grasp the melody, the lyrics and the rythm of that song? How are those productivity levels going for you, huh? Think multi tasking is cool and smart? Think again.
So, for sake of your own wellbeing and development as a person - I’m going to include myself in this pledge - try to grasp what is around you at every moment. Don’t daydream of what will happen in five, ten minutes or later in the afternoon. Of what X and Y are doing and how Z is spending her Friday night. Concentrate on what you’re hearing now, what you’re listening to now and who you’re with right now. Even if you’re by yourself, grasp that and take the most out of it as you possibly can.
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