Day 9 – Creativity in confinement

Today I woke up really foggy and my attention was drawn straight to the windows and of course it was grey and muggy. Gross. Cloudy, cold and quite demotivating with the feeling of dementors coming at any moment…

I made it a whole (I think – still refuse to look at the clock) 32-hours with no technology, including music. I take that as a huge success and rewarded myself with the radio. As I am still exploring being cut off while confined, I am only allowing the classical music channel to play which is all classical music during the day anyway, which I hope would contribute in stimulation the right side of my brain! Every now and again I find myself doing ballet movements to the classical music playing but whenever the news comes on, I just mute the radio. I kind of like this whole idea of temporarily being out “of touch from reality”. And I think i’ve chosen a good time to introduce music back in the mix. As the days go on, the couple next door seem to be getting louder and louder …poor things.

This is the second rainy day since being back in Sydney and I found myself sorting through all the documents I had in my luggage and rearranging all the stuff I have left out over the passed 9-days. When did I start associating bad weather with organisation?
I then spent the rest of the day reading, unable to put my book down. Agatha Christie has that affect on me. And miserable weather! At some point I decided that the blinding brightness from the overcast was getting uncomfortable and so I put the electric window blinds down (and played with the button for a while before I finally just shut them fully). Then turned on the fairy lights and night lights which created a really calm and relaxing atmosphere.

That immediately made me more motivated. So I got up and did a bit of yoga (if don’t have someone on the screen telling me what to do, I usually can’t be bothered), then showered and then had my lunch which was a zucchini, rocket, tomato, capsicum and pesto wholemeal sandwich, with a  kale, farro, baked beans and cheese salad, and to my delight, they delivered another salty, giant, soft pretzel to make my day.

I realised that the social media part of this technology detox was easy for me and I actually still have no desire for it. It’s just the actual devices themselves that I am longing for! I just want something to type my thoughts out on or a voice recorder to record them on all in one go without forgetting. But I didn’t give in. I like a challenge and I refuse to give up on a challenge. 

I thought I maybe needed a little push in this undistracted environment and so I tried to meditate. You’d think with all the yoga I do, this is something regular or easy for me. Quite the contrary (hah), I really struggle with shutting off my mind (CLEARLY!)… So I lit the incense, grabbed my mat and did some breathing exercises while laying on my back. I ended up falling asleep for a little while (it wasn’t long – I could tell by how much of the stick burnt), which wasn’t exactly what i was hoping for so I went back to reading.

While in my soft velvety chair, I noticed the little faux plant on the table and thought “this looks simple enough to draw while making my artistic abilities look much better than they should!”, so I picked up my sketch pad and pens and was off with it. Next thing I know, I’ve moved the table to the window and the paints came out.

I will openly admit I don’t have as much patience as I’d like but I’m improving (thanks lockdown)! So things like cooking and painting are great ways for me to exercise my impatience. With all the paints and brushes, a blank canvas and my ballet shoes scattered across table, it was looking so beautifully messy and I wanted so badly to take a picture of it! (Photography is another one of my thousand and one hobbies) – and evidently, realising even more, how much I rely on my devices. So sticking to my guns, I chose to sketch it out instead and with the jazz program playing along, I was in a trance. I was so distracted, I forgot to put the blinds back up (for what I could see of the sunset) and when i remembered, it was already dark. But all the city lights were up so it was even better. I even forgot about food which is all I can think about if I’m not thinking about anything else… until the 6:20 dinner knock. So art, jazz, pretty lights and now food – that’s a good time.

Dinner was a Nutella cake, mash potato with mushrooms (mmm shrooms) and carrot in a red sauce, a salad and serving of edamame. I finished the drawings, paintings and food and laughed at some DP comic strips to end the night. My prediction and intention for this time away from technology was proven a success. No technology or distractions resulted in an afternoon of creativity which makes me really happy. And also no real desire to come back to reality.. yet … kidding… maybe.

I wonder if ill keep this going tomorrow. Hmmm. Tomorrow is actually day 10 which means second Covid test day and humans…