Tartine and bellinis at Blue Dahlia.
Have I told you about my theory of INs and OUTs?
I think I often have an excess of INs – inputs – in my life. Blogs, magazines, books, films, TV shows, music, commercials, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, texting, phone calls, emails, GoodReads, 8Tracks, podcasts, websites, links, images, articles, ideas.
And I feel the need to balance those INs with OUTs – outputs – like exercising, painting, writing, photographing, sewing, knitting, meditating, cooking, cleaning, jumping, yelling, doing.
I tend to take in way too much. This weekend, I have consumed so much information that I feel as though my head might explode. I watched several films at the film festival. I read the latest New Yorker, plus part of the new Diner Journal and a bit of Gastronomica. I started two new books and watched a full season of River Cottage. I browsed blogs, Pinterest, Facebook, and such. I listened to new music, and received emails and texts and phone calls. My head is full.
I haven’t had many OUTs lately. I keep saying I’m going to go for long meandering walks each morning, and I keep not doing it. I keep meaning to try to crochet a ripple blanket, or embroider something, or knit a new scarf. I buy groceries with the intent of cooking up fabulous things, but then end up having sandwiches. I just seem to keep everything IN.
INs aren’t necessarily a bad thing – I love reading, and would hate to ever have to limit the number of books I consume. The problem is that with each thing I read/see/hear/experience, I grasp onto new ideas, new things, new thoughts that I want to follow up on. I tend to be greedy with what I learn – I want to save those thoughts and images somewhere in my brain, so that I can remember them when needed. (Say I start to feel down about criticism, I’d like to remember Taylor Swift’s lovely attitude as described in the New Yorker article. Say I’m at the thrift store and see an oversized sweater, I’d like to remember that I can throw it over a button-up shirt with shorts, tights, and boots like the image I saw on Pinterest.) Unfortunately, my brain can only hold so much.
And so, my head is full. It’s time to slow down the INs. Granted, this weekend was a bit more IN-y than most, but still. It’s time to cut back blogs. Cut down Facebook. Forget Twitter. Return some library books. Take some walks. Write letters. Write poems. Sweep the floor. Make soup. It’s time for more OUTs.
Does anyone else have this problem of too many INs?
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