On a long plane-journey recently, I watched the David Bowie documentary \u201cMoonage Daydream\u201d. Unlike for many other people, Bowie\u2019s music and iconography had never played a large role in my life, despite the fact that he\u2019d spent a few years in my chosen hometown of Berlin, and his footprints still felt tangible in places when I moved there a couple of decades later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when I stumbled across this documentary on the plane, I was relieved to finally be able to close some of my Bowie-knowledge-gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it happens, it did not really help with that: the movie felt like a colourful, kaleidoscopic vision of Bowie on different stages, in different \u201cincarnations\u201d, in different cities, giving different interviews, all underscored by his (and other\u2019s) music and his (and other\u2019s) quotes \u2013 or him quoting others. What was what remained unclear, and so what I was left with was a general, almost dream-like impression of the man\u2019s life and impressively prodigious artistic output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One aspect stood out for me, though: from his earliest interviews, given when he was in his 20s, he had a great sense of incessant artistic urgency, based on his deeply felt understanding of life\u2019s transience. He kept emphasising his need to spend each day wisely and productively, and not to waste or lose any time. For him that meant constant reinvention, constant personal and creative development, constant travel, and constant, conscious exposure to challenging situations outside his comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I could easily understand that the sheer volume of his artistic output \u2013 music, performance, visual arts, movies\u2026 – would not have been possible without this urgent sense of being on a mission, and while I admire and appreciate the attitude, to me that actually sounds pretty exhausting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, for those of us without the drive to match Bowie\u2019s oeuvre, what can it mean to spend each day wisely and productively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First of all it is important to remember that downtime is a necessary part of being productive, and an important aspect of being wise. Very few people can keep going at great speed over long distances without burning out, so incorporating periods of rest and recharge into one\u2019s routine is extremely important. What that looks like is very personal, of course, as is how much and how frequently it is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solitary walks or socialising, high-intensity workouts or early-morning meditation, reading a book or journaling, gardening or woodworking, singing in the choir or silly dancing in front of the mirror when no one is watching\u2026 there are no right or wrong ways, as long as it is something that relaxes and recharges your mind and body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(By the way, if the majority of your downtime is spent scrolling on social media, here\u2019s your reminder that your batteries are lower than what is healthy for you.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will know what it is that you need to keep going wisely and productively \u2013 are you getting it at the moment? If you are not, why is that? Are you able to make some changes to your routine that will allow a regular recharging of your batteries? And while you give that some thought, don\u2019t forget that most people are flattered when asked for help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me let you go on your merry way with a bit of David Bowie wisdom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All people, no matter who they are, all wish they’d appreciated life more. It’s what you do in life that’s important, not how much time you have or what you wished you’d done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a long plane-journey recently, I watched the David Bowie documentary \u201cMoonage Daydream\u201d. Unlike for many other people, Bowie\u2019s music and iconography had never played a large role in my life, despite the fact that he\u2019d spent a few years in my chosen hometown of Berlin, and his footprints still felt tangible in places when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":727,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenravens.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}