I work as a graphic designer. Like many other folks in my profession I find it hard to turn off. I may not be thinking about projects from work all the time, but I'm always thinking about projects I'd like to do or reviewing the things I see all around me. I see every piece of design and mentally critic it, 99% of the time I'm not even aware I'm doing it, but it's there, almost like a 6th sense wondering what questions the designer faced.
I've lost count of the number of times I've sat in a restaurant looking at the menu only to realise I'm not looking at what's on offer but the way it's been typeset. What font did they use? What does it make me think of the restaurant? Does it make the food I'm reading about sound even tastier or does it make me think I'll be left wanting more? Does the menu fit the surroundings or does it just feel like a designer somewhere threw it together because he didn't get a proper brief?
It's a pretty constant state of affairs. Right now I'm glancing at the empty can of San Miguel thats sitting on the dining table. Does it look like the taste? Does it make me want to lie on a hot beach in Spain? What the heck has a ship got to do with beer? Why did the designer pick gold as the main can colour and break away from the green and white that used to be there?
I can't turn it off, and many a time I've amused good friends as I verbalise my critique.
Unfortunately relaxing is made all the more harder by it. I read to do my relaxing, mostly the blogs of a select few but they're people who I've come to trust. I trust that the links they post are to interesting content, articles that can lead me on a chase around the internet looking at websites, new websites. Websites that start the inner critic on it's familiar chain of questions. Questions that lead me to find another way of reading.
Books.
Mostly made of paper that smell of ink and aren't displayed on a screen. However, in this age of constant stream of information that feeds a thirst for knowledge, growth and understanding, I find I need a book that doesn't make me think too much. There's no point going to bed to read only to lie in bed for hours thinking about the chapter I just read and the challenges or knowledge it imparts. I need a good story. Something that will make me keep turning the pages, compelling me to read. So it is with great joy in the last year or so that I've discovered an author I enjoy, one that draws me to read rather than watch inane tv shows.
It's not the novels that I write this about though, it's the impact they have on me. As well as helping me relax, they force me to use my imagination. When reading about the unravelling story I'm forced to imagine the scene, what people look like and where they are. I'm forced to stop asking the questions I ask all day long as I review and work on the various projects I have on the go. That time away from questioning and evaluating can only have one impact as far as I'm concerned, that is, to make my work better. Having time to just imagine frees me from the constraints that are so often put in place when working. They may be imposed on me by the projects, or by the presssures I put on my self, but the more I read and use my imagination in a completely unattached manner. The more creative I feel, the more my imagination is fed the more easily I find work.
In a time when the people around me seem to read more than they ever did, I seem to be the only person among my friends who reads novels. I'd like to encourage you to start. Take a short story and read it. Start small and find something that feeds your imagination, a story which gives it new life and see what impact it has on your work.
