From a young age I’ve always been certain about one thing, that is of death an perhaps thats why insignificant and mostly fleeting thing in life have never concerned me, why I’ve been able to just cut situation off like a light switch perhaps it’s because theres always something bigger. It also stems from something thats always made me hate sleeping alone but you learn to deal with thing, worries come and go but life and death more so the latter are as certain as the setting sun.
I may be a pessimist but I look at the world through optimistic eye non the less, contradictory, perhaps but honesty I don’t care.
Out of now where I’ve a passion, the passion I’ve not had for a while now. Thank you so much.
DO THIS.
I used to listen to each album I bought obsessively. 20, 50, 100+ times…and when I listened, that’s all I would do. No reading, no surfing the web, no blogging or monitoring play counts…I just listened.
Now, I doubt I listen to most albums I buy more than a few times each. Is the music worse or less creative? (debatable, but I think there’s still plenty of great new music out there.) Do I have less time? (probably, but this is more about how I spend the time that I have.) Have shuffle play and access to every album I own all the time ruined my attention span? (Definitely.)
It’s easy to say “so what” and go back to checking my Twitter feed and my Tumblr dashboard, idly flipping through songs on iTunes…but I think I’m losing something. I’m no longer engaging with music the way I used to in the past; forming deep connections with songs and albums that become an integral part of my life. Same goes for literature, art, even tv and movies - there’s so much out there - and I’m constantly acquiring more of it - that I never take the time to truly engage and understand and appreciate and love what I have.
That’s one of my challenges for 2012. Engagement. To stop brushing across things on the surface level and to truly give myself time - and make the effort - to engage deeply and completely with the things I love. And, for that matter, the people I love (because this applies there too - and it’s actually a lot more important.)
It requires being more selective, devoting more time to each album or book or show I choose…but I think, ultimately, it’s going to be so much more rewarding.
So, for the record, the first album of 2012? Let’s Go Eat the Factory - Guided By Voices (yes, I’m aware of the irony of “engaging completely” with a band that makes songs that sound like they were thrown together in the garage in 5 minutes - but you can and should do it - listen to Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes.) The first book? I just bought it - it’s called Reality Hunger by David Shields.
