Camila Veizaga
As I start getting comfortable in my bed in front of my computer screen, I am opening my Pinterest board to check new ideas for a social media project. I manage the social media accounts for my sorority and I want to create a new aesthetic for it. Because this job is all about looking at a screen, I spend a fair amount of my time looking at my devices. This new project makes me excited and nervous at the same time. Therefore, scrolling down the images on my virtual board I realize that I have many options on how carrying out this aesthetic dilemma, which decreases my anxiety. I decide that is time to learn how to create this desired Instagram look and I go to YouTube. I immediately get bombarded with a ton of suggested videos and watch the one with the most views. Nine thousand people liked this video, but I thought it was not as useful for me. After 60 more minutes searching for the right video, I get frustrated because I cannot find a useful video.
After that hour spent trying to figure how to carry out my project, I decide to admire the sunset through my window. I close my eyes and the warmth of the golden hour on my face makes me forget how cold is outside transporting me to last summer. My appreciation for sunsets started five years ago when I moved to the U.S. Watching the sun delicately touching the plants outside of my window reminded me that a year ago, I was going through a tough breakup and the beauty of sunsets kept me sane. I open my eyes and I smile back to the sun because I am grateful for everything I have accomplished in a year. I decide to take a quick picture and go for a walk. I followed a trail near my house. To my surprise, I saw an eagle eating a squirrel and I wished I had my phone to take a picture. I immediately turned back following the opposite side of the trail. The rest of the time I thought about that interaction and how nature works. I thought about the million events in the universe that had to happen in order for us, humans, to be alive. I felt grateful. I also thought about my project, but this time I reminded myself that I was capable of doing great things and that whatever I ended up doing it was going to be great.
This experience helped me remember that taking a break from the screens is important not only for my mental health, but also good for my creativity. I once read that our inner self naturally knows how to be successful, but because of distractions of our environment we are unable to reconnect to that natural self. Nature carries out complex projects all the time, from photosynthesis in a plant to that eagle eating a squirrel. As humans, we are also part of a successful project from nature and the majority of the time the answers to our problems lay within us.
