It’s easy to say that we are connected but the more technology replaces interaction we become more and more distant from one another and the items we interact with daily. A primary part of the human experience is connections; connections between each other, products, food, services, tools, and much more. Building a connection to our experiences is a major reason we evolved to be the dominant species, if we didn’t have the brainpower to make those connections we would still be swinging from limb to limb high in the tree tops. The moment that we realized that we can create tools to assist us in building shelter and weapons to catch food was the moment we went from being simple beings to a world of interconnections. We think that today’s society is making us more connected than ever and in many ways it is but it is also creating disassociations between our interactions and our consumables.
There is a reason why the DIY movement boomed in the last decade along with butcher shops, community gardens and a ton more examples of humans interacting more closely with what they consume. Building and creating something results in the most pure experience of the human condition, it brings us closer, develops powerful associations and memories. Whenever I have built something and whenever I still do today there is a sense of fulfillment that you just can’t get elsewhere. When I built grand designs with legos as a child I left fulfilled, as an adult I am building a brand, this website, and in the process of building multiple businesses. It certainly is more fulfilling than my day job and that’s because I’m making connections to the things that I’m building, I’m exploring the human experience instead of just sustaining mediocrity. It’s a powerful experience, it fuels me to keep going.
Big or small there is endless joy and satisfaction that can come from building something new and different. Whenever I build something from scratch it is by far one of the most rewarding experiences; breaking through the barriers, distractions, setbacks, the “ah-ha” moment, and rapidly developing. I love that shit; the struggle to the success. Building and creating helps you grow as a person, it shows you parts of yourself that you thought wasn’t there. If you told me 15 years ago that I would be writing 1000 words a day, posting multiple blogs weekly, designing a website, and building a brand I would said you were full of shit! I HATED, with a fiery passion, writing, reading, and english in general. I really can’t stress how much I fucking HATED the whole thing, I was terrible at it. Now more than 100,000 words written and 40 public blog posts, turns out I actually love to write and I feel like I’m getting pretty decent at it. A far cry from 15 years ago when I wish I could burn every book and writing assignment down to the ground.
The beauty of building something is that you never know what you will discover in the process. I started writing because I wanted to chronicle my insights and experiences with developing my photography and creativity, in the process of doing that I found out that I really love to write. Building legos as a kid I discovered that I have an immense passion for architecture, that passion helped me realize that I love big cities. Building and creating things gives us insight into our souls they let us see who we really are and when we see who we really are we start experiencing life in the most pure ways possible. Life is as much about discovering who we are as it is about discovering the world.
Discovering and experiencing life is the reason why I have decided that each month I’m going to build or create something new, big or small it doesn’t matter. The point is to learn something new about myself and just in general learn something new. I challenge everyone who reads this to do the same exact thing. I want to see you create something new, discover something about yourself that you previously didn’t know. Get the fuck out of your comfort zone and do something interesting. If you don’t know how to draw then draw everyday for 30 days. Can’t cook then cook everyday for 30 days. Have a cool idea you’ve thought about in the shower for years but never did anything about it, there ya go, you’re halfway there already, you’ve got an idea, no go fucking build it! I encourage and challenge everyone to do something new, build something special, and create something cool. We can all grow the human experience and build amazing connections to things that we use and interact with we just need to get our hands dirty and do it ourselves.