And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

I have to admit, in the last few months, I’ve been sucked back into the ‘online world’, and feeling the need to constantly be posting somewhere, reading blogs, and seeing what everyone else is up to.
For a good while, I didn’t feel like this. I had it down, and I was pretty stoked just to live my own life and roll however, whenever I liked, and not feel the need to be so god damn connected all the time.

I’m a huge advocate of getting offline and off the screen as much as possible, and finding inspiration in experience, and life itself, but lately I feel like I’ve been breaking my own rule on this one.

Sometimes it can be pretty damn overwhelming consuming so much info. And more so, I find myself comparing my work and my lifestyle to other people, which ain’t such a good thing either. Its a crazy cycle, and over time, you feel although you’re starting to loose yourself, as you live vicariously through all of these other people.

All in all, this has happened to me before, and the only thing I found that worked was to ditch Bloglovin and all the blog checking, and just be a hell of a lot more aware of the time I spend online, and use more wisely.

I’ve also been brainstorming for a side project or something that involves getting out and exploring, and discovering new things, offline. I have a habit of jumping into things too quickly sometimes though, so I’m really taking the time to think over new ideas & projects before I start working on them.

So to anyone feeling the same way, it’s time to let go. Let go of the pressure, let go of the need to be connected 24/7. Go easy on yourself friends.

What do you usually do when the same thing happens to you?

photo: Lou Mora

This has been a hot topic on my mind lately, as I feel like I’m beginning to understand the awesomeness that is ‘the freelance life.’ I know some people still believe that there has to be a balance in life, between your work, and your chill time. I’m not one of those people, and going full time freelance has totally opened my eyes to this. Here’s a few pointers I’ve picked up on why I think the idea of balance is BS.

Balance is a myth. Danielle LaPorte says this best, but I’m totally down with her on this one. Life isn’t meant to be perfectly balanced. It’s not meant to be 50% work and 50% life, or however else you wanna weigh it up. Stop wasting your time trying to balance everything, and just aim for passion. Aim for awesomeness.

Its old school. This ‘idea’ that we have to sit in an office, or in a job, from 9-5, 5 days a week in order to be successful has gone out the window. Actually, its been well and truly chucked out the window. Smacked out the window with a baseball bat. Kicked out the window with steel cap boots. You get the idea.
We can live the lives we love, and we can create a living from doing what we love.

Don’t think of ‘work’ as ‘work’. I once saw a quote that said something along the lines of ‘treat work as play, and play as work.’
I think thats half the problem, we feel the need to split life into two parts, ‘work, and ‘play’. Who says it needs to be so precisely split up? Surely we should all just be aiming for lives of adventure and amazingness?
When you do what you love, it will not feel like work.

Nothing is ever perfect, or balanced, but it is always amazing. Wether you see it or not, life is always amazing. Learn to be present, and to live in the moment.

Even if you’re in a 9-5 job, and it feels like your life is jammed into these two separate parts, just think about it. I know every job differs with the hours, and how it works, but I think as long as you love what you do, you’ll be set.

+SIDE NOTE
The photo above is from where I was working yesterday, and I’ve been to that same place a few times in the last week. (Its actually this place here). I literally just grab my laptop & my stuff, and head out. (If you follow me on Insta, you’d have seen all the places I get to! My username is sian_richardson) Half the time I have no idea where exactly I’ll go, but when I get there, I create. I design. I photograph. I do my thing. This is how I create my best work, and I love it.
95% of the time there isn’t even internet or phone reception in these places, so that makes them about 10x more awesome in my books. True creating, without the distractions.

+ CHECK THESE
Out of interest, I googled ‘work life balance bullshit’, and whoa momma, turns out that a whole stack of other peeps have written about it too. Heres a couple to check out.
- Still Breathing
- The Monster In Your Head