Today's Little Treasure

I know at times some find me a little odd, maybe slightly “blonde,” with my unusual obsessions and phobias and the million random comments and thoughts that regularly flutter through my mind and out my mouth. I take it more as a complement really. I enjoy the fact that at the end of the day, not only that I, but my friends also, am able to laugh at my own stupidities rather than focusing on others and not let the burdens of the modern day worry me all too much. The world is a little brighter if we are able to view things from a perspective that is slightly skewed from mainstream and draw inspiration from mundane subjects. People tend to take life all a little too serious.

BLONDE MOMENT #10967:

G: Who is Jersy Shore?

Jess: Jersy… as in the place… like New Jersy.

G: Oooh… so than, who is Shore?

Jess: (puzzled, thinking I was playing a trick) umm… you know… shore.

G: No I don’t know… who is Shore?

Jess: What?? You know… as in the beach (accompanied with water wave arm movements)… shore.

G: Oooohhh. Shore, as in a place… I get it now... I thought it was a person.

I am guilty of getting caught in hype. Getting caught up in irrelevant matters, idle gossip, concerning myself with uselessness and losing focus on what life is to me, especially in a city where everyone knows everyone and everyone’s business. Than when I find myself in that dark spot, where you reflect on your days and realize that you have over-indulged on meaninglessness and negativity, disgust and disappointment rears its’ hideous head. My attempts in distancing myself from it all, wavers on the edge of success and failure. It is difficult (or perhaps I am too weak) to break from habit, especially when the habit is constantly being paraded in your face, like the carrot that dangles in front of the donkey. I am hoping that living abroad will help teach me this discipline, especially in a city like London where love and inspiration is at every corner… design, culture, arts, people, architecture, history, knowledge… the list goes on.

Leaving the solace of stability and routine is the most humbling experience. Finding yourself removed from your own little world, from an environment where you perceive to know everyone and everything and everyday you are surrounded by people that stroke your ego. Ego, I mean in the sense of having people around you that know you, your personality and traits, people that remember your likes and dis-likes and that remind you of your existence. Really, in the whole scheme of things, we are so minute.

A few years ago, a seemingly never-ending period of all-nighters, model making, presentations, critiques, anxiety, stress, sleeping in lectures, drawing, designing and essay writing concluded as I found myself graduating from uni, which fortunately was succeeded promptly with employment, and than a nice little pay-rise. When you concentrate so much time, energy and love into achieving a goal, once you get there and the ritual of your struggles is over, you find yourself in a bizarre predicament, disappointingly not as content as one would have imagined. I had accomplished everything that I had aspired to, all in a short period of time, this, coupled with exiting from an undesirable, unhealthy long relationship I found myself in that dark spot, lost in the hype, re-evaluating life and my position in it. Inspiration was dead… but as they say, you never know what is around the corner… or who is around the corner… or that London is around the corner!

I love things of inspiration; it is like finding treasure.

Something that offers you a little extra reason to wake the following day.

Something that compels you to strive for a little more.

Something that encourages you to seek, learn and experience the unknown.

Something that exposes a new perspective.

Something that reminds you to slow down.

Something that just puts a smile on your face.

A book, a deed, a thought, a song, a graphic, a story, or even better… a person.

TODAY'S TREASURE:

http://www.kerismith.com/explorer/page_2.html

The author sets out simple projects, which challenges you to approach objects, chores and thoughts in an unconventional manner, to observe and appreciate the beauty in our immediate surroundings. Don’t worry, it is not an intense, hippy spiritual kind of book, more of a light-hearted way to expand your creative thought, or something to do when you are bored. This is the way I’d like to live my life without falling into the risk of being branded as a tree-hugger.

This is her blog, which has also occupied many of my hours:

Wish Jar: http://www.kerismith.com/blog

100 Ideas: http://www.kerismith.com/funstuff/100ideas.htm