A Weekend Experiment in Information Dieting + an Invitation

"Reading deprivation is a very powerful tool - and a very frightening one. Even thinking about it can bring up enormous rage. For most blocked creatives, reading is an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings, rather than cook up something of our own."

~ Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

The past few weeks have been rich in information gathering, it's time to give my brain a bit of unstructured time to let things gel and percolate.

I was toying with a full one-week media deprivation exercise à la Julia Cameron (Week 4, The Artist's Way and one of the later weeks in The Prosperous Heart), but I'm not sure I'm ready for that so I'm testing the waters with just two days.

I therefore declare publicly to thee:

This weekend there will be no Facebook or Twitter. No blogs. No magazines or work/creativity/productivity-related books. No motivational quotes or affirmations. No email. I'm still on the fence about a documentary or leisure TV (read: an episode of Downton Abbey or a classic movie) and fiction before going to bed. I think it would be interesting to go without, but I'll play that by ear.

Frankly I'm curious to see how this will pan out. What will I do with the time freed up by not having my nose pointed to the PC or in a book?

I'll catch you on the flip side and let you know.

~~~

What do you think would happen if you paused your information consumption for a few days? Think you could do it? Join me in my weekend experiment and see...