consumption /kən-sŭmp′shən/

We obviously consume too much in our society.

Just look at the screen time we spend on a daily basis. And when I say we, I mean me. Last week, I averaged 4 hours on my phone a day. In my defense, some of this is not doom-scrolling or social media time. I listen to podcasts and music that take up most of the battery life. But not all. I am not thinking about or analyzing the content that I take in.

My thesis is to shift our focus from mind-numbingly consuming media to consuming it with the intent to inform our creation.

When we are consuming things without intent, we are not creating. That is just a fact. One cannot watch the Kardashians and paint the Mona Lisa at the same time.

I am not asking to go into a cave and create your work. You have to consume as a part of the system. That is just how things work. If you do not consume, in fact, you will die. But we live in an age of over-consumption. Obesity is now the number one killer in America. We are over-consuming our bodies to death with junk food, and over-consuming our souls with junk media.

I think a good question to ask yourself as you consume is: Is this informing my goals, or is it taking away from them? And sometimes you just need an escape from things. Everything that you consume need not be Tolstoy or nonfiction or bland material. Just shift the mentality to consume with intention.