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Showing posts from January, 2022

Reclaiming my attention

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A few weeks back, I came across an article at the Guardian that made a claim affirming something I have felt for years now: " Your Attention Didn't Collapse. It Was Stolen. " As a child, my ability to concentrate was second to none. I spent hours and days in books, never even hearing people when they were trying to catch my attention - I wouldn't ignore them, it was just that nothing penetrated that wall of concentration when I was in the flow of a book or a project! This ability to concentrate was something I always took for granted, at school and at university and at work later on as well.  But when social media became a thing, within a couple of years, my attention fractured. It wasn't that noticeable at first; as a single person, I didn't have that many obligations besides work and I really valued the ability to stay in touch with friends far and wide through Facebook (and they really were far and wide, as I'd moved around so much) and see what their d

Family, minimalism, social media - a new year's declutter

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The new year has dawned - welcome, 2022! - and with that, for me, came a real urge to simplify. Simplify life: our stuff, our calendars and activities, my relationship with social media...  We are minimalists at heart Boat life. Good times! You could justifiably call us minimalists as a family; I always have been. Until I got married, I relished the fact that I could pack up two suitcases at any time and be off to another part of the world. Moving continents, or just cities, was what my 20's were all about - until I settled down with Mr.  Of course, living on a boat (where we started off married life and had our kids) keeps stuff down naturally - there's just not much space! So when the kids came along, they really didn't bring much new 'stuff' into our life, and that was always my intent. It was easy to shrug and say, hey we just don't have space for that on a boat! But the truth is, I wouldn't have stocked up on baby cribs, moses baskets, prams, and all th