My Body is Asking Me to Go Slow
Hi everyone,
I hope your 2023 is off to a good start. I have been quiet on social media so far this year for 2 major reasons. I want to share why that is not just as a personal update but also potentially as food for thought for you as you define your relationship with the world this year:
1) The first reason is that the social media world has changed quite a bit since I decided to go for it full-time at the end of 2018. That was a little over 4 years ago.
There have been a lot of changes but definitely the most symbolic in my view has been the massive push toward vertical, short-form content. In those 4 short years, TikTok has blown up and scared every other platform including YouTube into adding short-form vertical videos.
Shorts are not evil, but I find they lack depth. Even when it comes to YouTube-length videos, the obsession with viewer retention and engagement is wearing on me. Feature films have slow moments for a reason.
Right now I’m just trying to find my place in the world of content and media. The demand for Shorts is just one example, my point is that tastes are changing, and I find that some things are going in a direction I’m not interested in. Instead of just blindly following trends, I want to be solid on how I feel about what I’m doing.
I love making videos, so that’s not going to stop. However, I’ve always seen them as a tool to mine the depths of the things that are occupying my mind. Over time, I want the depth to increase, not decrease. But to do that, I also have to change how I make what I make on a personal level – it takes more time and more reflection than ever before.
The speeding up of everything (both in the content itself and in the lifestyle necessary to make it) is just not something I want to do. This leads me to my second point.
2) It’s winter. I’ve been very intrigued by the idea of living “seasonally” and I think it can sometimes be as simple as quieting down enough to hear what your body is telling you. Mine is telling me that I’m a bit tired and that winter is a time for reflection, not a time for sprinting. Maybe all of the sprinting that I have done over the last few years is catching up with me.
Either way, it’s pretty clear to me that I have two options right now: listen to what my body is telling me or make low-quality work. It’s not what I want to do, it’s what I have to do.
What am I going to go do about this? Well for now I’m doing my best to take things day by day.
However, I am launching something new next month. It’s a new format that might just solve many of the challenging questions I’m facing right now: a podcast.
It’s going to be on No Backup Plan if you want to subscribe to be there for when it is launched.
The podcast is a format that will allow me to go into way more depth on topics I’m interested in, but it will also give me the potential to cut down moments from conversations into clips or shorts for people that prefer bite-sized content.
I think I’m just excited right now to try out a new format and to see where it takes me. Personally, it has been a silver lining to see the simultaneous rise of hours-long podcasts over the last few years. That tells me people are open to long-form too if it’s done right.
Anyway, more updates on this coming from me soon. I hope you’re taking care of yourself this winter.
Movie recommendation: Nomadland. Sometimes I worry about watching movies that tackle heavier topics because of the weight of the emotions that comes with that. Surprisingly, this film was very easy (for me) to watch while still making a powerful commentary on Capitalism, aging, grief, loss & freedom.
Lately, when a friend recommends me a movie I just watch it and this time around I was not disappointed.
In case you missed it, here’s a day in the life.
Music Recommendation
Thanks for reading,
Nathaniel Drew