Weekly wisdom #13

❤  Straight to the point: be a nice human ❤

A visual diary: Salpal + Siblet pay a visit

Full time independence and expat livin' comes with all kindsa perks, but there's no doubt about it: a good dose of your "people" and some R&R every now and then are very much required. While having a super-tight-knit triangle of a family unit is a total blessing (and one which I'm very grateful for), being away from the ol' homeland is a little trickier when you'd – in an ideal world – be spending far more time hanging out with yo' nearest and dearest. 

Not that this makes me wanna rush back to LDN just yet (not at all in fact), but there are times when having the best of both worlds would be just swell. Ever the idealist. Needless to say, when my favourite ladies came to town the other week, it gave me a much needed boost; a chance to spend some proper, quality time together and recharge my batteries after a mad few months to say the least. 

For a spot of context, see here 'n' here. 

After a few darlin' days hanging as a three, Salpal headed back to her working world, leaving the much missed sis and I to get up to our old antics as a lil duo. After over 4 months without my best gal, it was all the more lovely to just chill in each other's company. Indeed, a short but sweet week was all it took to get me fully feeling myself again: I've been on a fam-induced high ever since. 

Weekly wisdom #12

In (one of) his neat book(s) on creativity, Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon cites his favourite cartoonist Lynda Barry: "In the digital age, don't forget to use your digits!" Yeah, our fingers taptaptap away all day on our various devices, but the actual physicality of using our hands and feeling things with all our senses needn't – mustn't – be neglected.

Unlike the 2D, static nature of screen-based doings, a hands-on approach quite literally engages the body (and brain) in a way more dynamic style. In turn, this analogue process gives birth to ideas, processes and results that – in my experience – simply don't crop up when I'm staring into a digital display. 

Don't get me wrong: tools 2.0 are enabling in all kindsa ways. It's the digital dependence that's inhibiting. And the two don't have to be mutually exclusive! Take this little online journal: when drafting up a post, all the idea generation and lettering gets done on paper. Then I digitise it, having sketched it all out IRL. I say this not to be all self-righteous, but because it's genuinely what keeps me clear-headed, cultivates creativity and prevents constant self-editing – which ain't what this space is all about.