Diary of an analog February

Welcoming fun and ease amid persistent overwhelm

This February I embarked on a monthlong experiment to create in analog and step back from all forms of online presence.

I felt the need to do this hermit analog experiment for several reasons:

• I created a daily prompt series during the month of January, which required me to share at a high frequency online and feel disconnected from my own needs in the process

• I quit my tech job 4 months ago and still had not meaningfully tried to reorient my life towards a less convenient and efficient pace. My day-to-day operating values clashed with the slow and intentional life I claimed to espouse

• Ever since learning that I’m a Reflector and experimenting with Human Design, I’ve wondered what it would be like to truly make space for inconsistency

• February is a short month—perfect for trying something outside of one’s comfort zone. I was fully at home in NYC with no plans to travel, which would make this experiment more difficult but also more insightful

These were my ground rules:

• Use paper whenever possible (physical books instead of an e-reader, planning on paper instead of using Notion)

• No posting on any social media or communication platforms besides email for the month

• Block social media, video, and online reading during work hours via Opal

Weekly diary of my analog month:

Week 1 (New moon to first quarter)

The month starts with a frenzied weekend full of physical activity. I’ve been deep in my yoga teacher training which takes up my mornings and afternoons every other weekend. I attend the opening for the Red Envelope Show. I love going to see all the interpretations of the year’s zodiac animal, but it can be overwhelming when the gallery gets so packed with people. I also help plan and prep my nephew’s doljanchi, a Korean tradition to celebrate a baby’s first birthday.

Immediately after this packed weekend I get a head cold. I honestly relish this sick time as full permission to stop trying to do “productive” things and sleep ten hours a night. Ironically I still go into the city every day to have several lunches and leisurely coffee hours with my parents and to see two Broadway shows with friends (while masked and Tylenoled, of course). I read a bunch, take notes of favorite passages in my journal, and casually reacquaint myself with some neglected art materials like my dip pen.

Week 2 (First quarter to full moon)

I start the week in a good groove, feeling content with my analog journaling practice. I’ve been diving deep into my stationery hobby, starting with my first Traveler’s Notebook acquisition (regular size in Olive) and expanding to making washi tape samples and organizing my stationery items into a Daiso pouch (thanks Nikki for the rec!)

Then I seriously doubt myself and the utility of this experiment when I head to my first risograph zine printing class, a ten week workshop at SVA that I thought started this week but actually started last week. On top of that, I stroll into class thirty minutes late and throw everyone into confusion. Ultimately it was fine; I didn’t miss anything crucial and I quickly got in the groove, but I was pretty shaken up having made two dumb mistakes that I’m convinced I would have caught had I been using my digital organization methods.

I’ve also been participating in Cristobal Schmal’s Drawing Workout course. I really enjoy the format—he shares a weekly presentation and exercise over email, and participants share their results in a Slack group. It’s my feeling that European illustration leans more experimental than American illustration which prefers the figurative, so I really enjoy the variety of work shared by the international group of students.

Weekly assignments from Drawing Workout

Week 3 (Full moon to third quarter)

My analog experiment starts to crumble, for better and worse. A few client inquiries and collaboration opportunities land in my inbox this week, which pull me towards technologies that prioritize efficiency—whether it’s searching images online or streamlining scheduling tools for calls.

I get really excited about making and printing zines and start creating two different ones on Procreate. I feel okay about this because I’ve created a book dummy with sketches first, which gives me an idea of the final physical result.

This week I especially feel the gift of connecting with people in person. The weekly riso class is a blissful three and a half hours of casual conversation and helping each other on projects. I love this type of project-based class environment where we all use our physical bodies to create things.

Through it all, I commit my mornings and late evenings to my journal. One of my favorite routines is to write a time log of how I’ve spent my days along with drawing my daily tarot card pull.

Time log in a Traveler’s weekly vertical notebook

Week 4 (Third quarter to new moon)

For several months now I’ve observed that I have compulsions to shop during third quarter moon. This week I buy a mini ring binder and various stationery tools, perhaps as a way to hold onto my love for paper as I start to diffuse my habits back into the digital realm.

This final week is a blend of the old and new. I write a few birthday cards to friends and venture out to cafes to read and draw. I spend more hours with the risograph printer, struggling with its many imperfections in registration and learning to call them happy mistakes. I put together a newsletter post of journal pages to share, despite breaking my rules a day early.

So…what did I learn?

My big hope for this experiment was that I would feel less overwhelm by stepping back from the internet. What I found was that I found ways to overwhelm myself and seek novelty in other ways, whether it was through borrowing more books than I could read from the library or lusting after cute stationery items in stores.

Not having an infinite feed to scroll helped, but deprogramming this habit of constantly seeking more requires a lot more than removing social media and the like. Living in NYC where there is so much to see and eat and do is much like the vast possibility (and FOMO) of the internet. And don’t get me wrong—I do love and enjoy seeing and experiencing new things, or I wouldn’t be doing it! But it can also be so tricky to let things go as easily as I take things in.

I thought back to my brief days in Cold Spring and how grounded I felt being in nature. After getaways like these I return home and tell myself I will go to parks more and seek out nature in the city, yet I rarely leave the house for this reason alone.

I don’t blame the city entirely; it’s also my learned habits from my culture and upbringing. Recently I’ve been thinking about how in Korean, a wife is referred to as “house person” (집사람) or “inside person” (안사람). How much of my own childhood and worldview was shaped by this patriarchal view? How come I completely accepted it as part of my introverted self? And how have I relied on the internet throughout my life as a way to exit the proverbial house, instead of the physical one?

What I did concretely observe from this month was a sense of fun and ease around creative work. Some days I faffed around; other days I got swept up in an idea and brought it to fruition. I finally birthed some ideas for zines that I’ve thought of making for over a year. And I really fell in love with journaling and stationery as a pressure-free hobby for me to be creative and connect with myself.

I end this month with a profound sense of gratitude that I get to experiment with my time like this and share my reflections with you, a privilege I don’t want to take for granted. Thank you for being here to see me as I unfold, and I am wishing you lots of ease and expansiveness in your days.