Give me less, thanks

Last night Eden and I went to an art exhibition called Monster Museum. The Thai artist FahFahs, explored themes of the hidden skeletons in your closet from past trauma, and how you don’t need to be fearful of them—just put a bow on it, so to speak. It was a delicious mix of spooky and cute and her art made me feel how I imagine she felt making it. I felt those emotions deep in my gut—like all good art should feel. Well, not always to make me personally feel something, but someone, somewhere should be moved by your art. Anyway, this is not a review of the art exhibition. This anecdote is only here for context.

So this exhibition is being held in a large building with lots of mini galleries. And usually I’d go visit as many as possible in this exact building or any other building that allowed me to view art—especially, but not limited to, them being free exhibitions. So there was five more free exhibitions to visit after the Monster Museum, but I opted not to view them. Why Penelope? You love art. Yes, that I do. But in light of my new less is more value, we opted to skip all other exhibitions and saw just the one exhibition which was hard because I am an art feign.

Okay, so you want me to get to the why right? Why did we skip all the other exhibitions?

Well, it’s simple really. I wanted to sit with FahFah’s work. Not five more exhibitions. Not even one more. Just one exhibition to really ponder on the artist’s thoughts, her feelings and her art for hours…days.

And I’ve been doing this in all aspects of my life lately. Sitting with ideas, thoughts and absorbing knowledge more. I want to take everything in wholly, rather than take in 100 watered down things.

Living like this for the past couple of months has given me time to enjoy my life more. My head is clear and my ideas and insights are more thorough. I’m not trying to know everything, to see everything or to read 100 books just to tell someone about it. I’m truly starting to understand what living in the moment means. It just means slowing down. Choosing one and taking it all in or giving it your all.

Less is more because how can you truly enjoy something when it’s constantly clouded and forgotten by a many other things?

You only need to read three insightful newsletters a day, not 10. Watch one episode of a show per day, not five. Reading one book a fortnight, not four. One absolutely marvellous cake is better than five not-so tasty ones, isn’t it?

And the dreaded little videos; I actually had a three month break from Instagram but I am back on it, giving myself 5 pieces of content to view/read and ponder per day. I choose wisely.

For me, less is more—to sit with ideas, insights, knowledge and to also have the brain capacity to action the things I want to. For the over-consumption to be truly turned into enjoyment or learning—the less you consume, the better.

And what has come from living like this? Well, for starters I can hear myself think. I have written 10,000 words of a novel and taken on a new hobby of conceptual photography. I really feel like I am entering a new era of living. Like I’m now living in the real world that I wasn’t in for so long.

Art, media, writing—all of this content is so marvellous and creatives should be celebrated and enjoyed as much as possible—but when there’s too much of it, you’re not taking in any of it. What a waste of such beautiful talent; your own and others.

So I implore you to do the same with your days. Limit all your media consumption; books, movies, television shows, poetry, art and content. Not to zero, but to an amount that means you’ve thought about the ideas in what you’re consuming. Treat your everyday consumption like you would a special trip to the theatre that you paid $400 a ticket for.

Don’t count how many books you’ve read this year. Absorb them instead. Rather than watching Netflix aimlessly everyday, make a list of movies you want to watch or go to the cinema once a week, grab a spoon and eat up the art of the film with zest. Take it in. Less is more my friend.

Life is going too quickly and you haven’t had a second to catch your breath because you’re trying to take on more than you need. Focus on one thing at a time.

Remove the fomo from your life because that fear of not reading enough books or seeing enough countries or doing enough in this life is taking away from the things you’re actually doing. It’s too much to take in.

Adopt this practice in all aspects of your life; projects, day-to-day, morning coffee, newsletters, work, hobbies, skills, art, media. You’ll start to take in your life more. You’ll notice the details.

Because you don’t need to go to 10 galleries in a day. Go to one and sit with it for days.

Slow down. Take a breath. Choose one thing today.

And tomorrow, or the next day, you just might start to hear the birds sing again.

Love Penelope,

Co-founder of Boring Studios, Writer, taking it all in