The other night I was busy working away on pre-wedding prep1 and popped downstairs to grab a drink. I wandered outside to discover a lovely, mild summer’s evening – not a common event in the UK so far this year.
I pondered the work-load on my plate and the wedding printing baying for my blood2 but realised that sometimes it’s more important to enjoy what life has served up for you than it is to be bang-on-time with something.
Interestingly, it was while parked in the garden in my director’s chair with my MacBook Pro perched on my lap that I read this post from the increasingly addictive Jessie Spielvogel.
Random Days
Until I read her post, I’d almost forgotten about the random days we used to enjoy back at the flat when K and I were just flatmates with Steve and Dazz living just upstairs.
On various occasions we would just pile into a car and drive off somewhere. Sometimes we named where we were headed when we got in the car, other times we’d just drive in a direction until we came across something interesting or worth stopping for. Like ice cream.
We’d also randomly buy each other gifts, too. If we were walking past a shop or browsing a website selling something we knew one of the others would like for super-cheap (or vaguely reasonable), we might just pick it up, “wrap it” in a Tesco bag and hand it over the next time we saw each other (which was pretty regularly).
Stay Spontaneous
It does make me quite nostalgic for those days – the carefree days of youth when you could do anything, go anywhere any time you wanted.
Then I realised to myself that this is exactly what I’m working for. The reason I make films, the reason I run a digital business from my own home is that it gives me precisely that freedom to disconnect when I want to and go and do whatever may tickle my fancy.
It’s fair to say I’ve lost a deal of my spontaneity over the years. I’ve stopped doing things on a whim. But I’m trying to promise myself that I will fight to regain it. Because sensible decisions may be grown-up, but grown-ups don’t have to make sensible decisions.
And who defines what’s ‘sensible’ anyway? Some people think 9-5 in a dull job with nothing but a semi-stressed weekend of recovery is a ‘sensible’ life to lead because it’s what they’ve learned from “society”.
We should all embrace random, all learn the power of bunking off whatever we’re doing and just getting out there and doing something new and interesting; an experience to add to our own vast catalogues.
What are you going to do this week to shake things up a little? Tell me in the comments or drop me an email and I’ll hold you to it. Promise.
Photo courtesy by Matt Tinsley via Flickr