How to Protect your Peace (and Creative Mind!)

And other tips for NOT crashing out right now

A photo I took last weekend of the snowfall at the Sierra Buttes

I just returned from a snowy trip to the mountains and took a TON of photos to inspire a whole series of paintings But then I came back to reality. A member of my Discord community gently asked “how’s everyone doing?” in regards to the current moment in our society.

My first response was quick and direct, and maybe a little dishonest. A simple "BAD lmaoooo” And, while things could definitely be classified as bad in this moment I am finding myself with more hope than ever. So many people I know are furious alongside me.

my response on Discord prior to sharing a long draft of strategies that inspired this email.

What I want to share with you today is a few strategies of refusal and emotional self defense that I think will help make more space for your creative mind.

First, I want to ask: What is your media diet? Were you someone like me constantly consuming content about and analyzing the last election and its aftermath? Do you find yourself easily consumed by the infinite scroll? Are Reels, Shorts, or Tiktoks in your daily dose of entertainment? I would say yes to all of those. No shame here. But on January 20th, it became abundantly clear that my media diet was not good.

The pandemic pushed me to become a firehose news consumer. I would endlessly refresh COVID case graphs while at my office job. It was normal for me to listen to news podcasts daily while making dinner.

Even when painting in my studio I typically listen to some type of news-related content. I am monthly donor to my local NPR station (I love u KQED) and I need to know that I am doing the work of staying an informed citizen. But as a queer and nonbinary person right now, this behavior was setting me on a crash course to a doom loop. Everything seems so bad and so dire that I am straight up traumatized.

That’s when a friend of mine pointedly asked me “is your consumption of news right now wandering into the realm of self harm?!”

I was stunned. It totally was. In the current moment, I am not solving anything by staying updated every single day. Our bodies are not build for this level of onslaught. So many of the mediums that I loved such as comedy news, I can’t watch right now without feeling uneasy or unmoored.

So, here is what we can do to avoid harming ourselves while staying informed. I hope that you will find these strategies helpful — and possibly as routes to help you get closer to your creativity.

1. I am replacing consuming with creating whenever possible. On my iPhone’s home screen, I replaced the BlueSky app with Voice Memos. BlueSky is 90% news 10% art for me. I know I could train that algorithm, but more on that in a bit.

I have started doing a version of The Artists Way’s morning pages by talking instead of writing, whenever inspiration strikes.

It doesnt matter if this happens in the morning, mid afternoon, on a long drive, waiting for the BART train, or on a long hike with no service. I just let myself check in with my creative impulses before I check the headlines. The voice memos app on my phone lets me transcribe the audio into text and it is helping me write scripts and posts like this one.

A screenshot of my phone after cleaning it up and greyscaling all of my apps.

2. Time to fix your phone. If you haven’t edited the main screen of your phone in awhile, the time is now. The maintanance work of having a good experience with any piece of technology is the stuff that is so easy for us to ignore. This weekend, spend an hour removing apps you arent using from that main space. You can hide them without deleting them.

3. Fix your notifications too! Finding yourself getting email or news notifications when youre in the middle of something good? You can go app by app to remove notifications. Turn that shit off! It’s hurting our ability to hope and create right now. If you are a more advanced phone user, you can try setting up a focus mode, or going FULL dumb phone.

4. Make your phone grey. I learned about this feature YEARS ago from a podcast interview with Tristan Harris who runs the Center for Humane Technology. By having a grey phone, we are less likely to get pulled by the tech and instead can make intentional decisions on how we want to use it. Here is a step by step guide on how to do it (with screenshots) from the Verge whether you have an iPhone or an Android

Above and below you can see what my phone actually looks like right now. I have apps that I actually enjoy looking at and the few I need for my freelance work. I used the customize feature to greyscale this homescreen and man, it is helping immensely. I love that Libby doesnt have this yet, and it makes me immediately want to open up the book I’m reading. The awareness of how a simple change in color completely shifts my phone use is amazing.

Page two is my entertainment and shopping page.

But heres the thing, I still do check the news. And I do it on my phone. I just only do it on Fridays after work. I havent checked it yet. But I plan to look today on the KQED website and immediately go for a walk. I chose Fridays for checking in because my workload is often lighter and I have the ability to process what has happened on my weekend hikes. I HAVE to process everything while walking outside. Nature gives me hope and peace.

5. Pick a specific day and time for checking in with the news and schedule it. The world is not going to burn if you wait a few days to find things out. Our bodies were not made to process so much catastrophic content every day. Make sure on the days you schedule news check ins, you have resources, community, or practices in place to help yourself process. This is an intense time. By scheduling when we look with intention, we can brace ourselves for the information overload.

6. Fix your algorithm by telling apps what you do not want to see. Unfortunately my algorithms are FULL of doomerism. When you see a post that isn’t what you want to see right now, tap on the … and tell the app “stop showing me this” or “I’m not interested.” I used TikTok after the election as my main news source because I love the perspectives of

   Under the Desk News
   but I switched to Substack instead. Of course that means I do still get news in my email inbox. I have to keep myself in check and not scroll in if it isnt Friday evening. I also did this to my entire YouTube homepage. I kept getting fed live news updates and I will now go sofar as reporting ads I see for being irrelevant to me.

Here are some tech free solutions for feeling better right now.

I wrote this post for you and to hold myself accountable to do better. The past few months have felt like a year. My family is freaking out, my partner’s job security is under threat, my student loan payments are balooning… so many things in and around my life could be threatened by decisions being made by a president I definitely did not want. I havent been EXPLICIT in here, that I am a solarpunk leftist, let it be known. You can unsubscribe at anytime!

We collectively have to do what is in our control and remember that this is the entire plan of these inept politicians. They want to make everyone miserable, anxious, and to be "in a trauma response.” They want to flood the system with shit and cause a recession to gain control. I am having none of it.

Here is what I reccomend for everyone feeling deeply upset by the shitstorm reality of the United States right now. Forward this email or post to your friends. Make plans to do these things together:

• Call people. Seriously, use your phone as a phone and setup a long phone call with an old friend or loved one. Meander. Talk about everything.

• Go to in-person events. Especially if they are focused on your identity if you are marginalized like me. I recently started going to a local knitting group for queer folks. It is been transformative. I recommend any kind of creative event, gallery opening, gathering happening at your local library or park. In person interactions will give you hope. People in real life are not as awful as on the screen.

• Get the hell out of town. If you can afford to, travel. See that National Park you’ve always wanted to go to. It also does not have to be big. Traveling can be a small adventure simply changing up up what you see/interact with everyday.

  I did this very thing by taking myself on a daytrip to San Francisco a few months ago. You can get inspired by watching this video:

  What novel things are within a short drive or train ride for you? Can you go on a hike somewhere new and different? Can you go to a local spot and watch the birds for awhile? Take time to be outside, in novel places, without your phone. Try to sketch when you are out there!

Thank you ALL for being here. Remember that our bodies are not designed to consume everything coming at us at this moment. Be mindful and take care of yourselves.

A few small updates to end with:

test thumbnail image for my Go Bag Zine Video that will be out next week.

• The Go Bag Zine is done!!! I just need to get to work on a Shop Update. Be on the lookout for a video and email from me early next week for getting your hands on a copy.

• My video essay on leaving Meta is finally in a state where I am ready to record the video for it, which means you’ll all have an Art Schools Keep Closing style video essay to watch before the end of the month.

• I am also finalizing the script for a video all about Discord (is it clear yet how much using my Voice Memos app is helping me right now?!) so if you have questions about using it, reply back to this email or leave a comment.

• Last thing! I will be posting times for us to gather for a Discord Creativity Club on Monday evening. Now is the best time to join us and build community around your work. Hope to see you there!

Until next time, stay creative and persistently bloom 🌸

-Mel