In February, I joined the 100 Day Project, a global challenge to do a creative project for 100 days. From February 18 on, I would draw something every day. I started posted my drawings online, joining a worldwide community of artists, writers, knitters, people doing all kinds of creative things. I loved looking at what the participants were doing on Instagram, and while I was checking out all the 100 Day Project posts, I did a lot of scrolling, getting exposed to all kinds of images, videos, music, and ads, ads, ads.
The ads were telling me that I’d be happier if I had this thing. This hair oil, this cat de-fuzzer, this car mat (we don’t have a car), this box of food that had all the ingredients I needed (along with all the packaging I didn’t need). Along with the ads telling me my life was somehow incomplete without the thing comes the subtle feeling social media imparts that I’m not doing enough. Yes, I’m drawing, but I could be drawing more, and better. And probably knitting more, too. Yes, I’m posting, but I should be posting reels. And I should be creating little movies with captions and music like other people do. As much as I enjoyed doing my project and sharing it with others, I came away from posting about my project feeling vaguely un-great.
Last week, my husband and I took a trip out west. We went to Los Angeles to visit friends and family, and then we drove up to Las Vegas. We wanted to see Vegas, because, well, it’s Vegas! We’d never been, and I knew there would be plenty to photograph for my camera-loving husband and plenty for me to draw. I knew Las Vegas had plenty to see and do, but I didn’t know I’d get to see something that wasn’t on any of the tourist attraction maps…
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