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Cara.gracie

graphic designer at skirt! Charlotte

Carefree and free-spirited, determined and focused, organized yet love the “life” in busy surroundings. I crave creativity in every aspect of my life and am enthusiastic about all forms of it. I have an eclectic taste and love for things old that can be made new and sometimes wonder why I wasn�...

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Media Fast

I really don't have a legitimate excuse as to why I have neglected my blog for a month. Well, maybe a few.

Obviously, one of the main reasons being production for the July issue and also for the fact that I have had a nice number of new freelance jobs circulating this month. Oh, and my sister just moved in after graduating from getting her master’s, and is trying to find a job. So I'm attempting to balance my career/freelance career/new roomie/ and really life in general. And I still have yet to fit in the creativity that I have been longing to dive into; painting and printing.

With perfect timing, Pastor Steven, at the church I attend in Charlotte (Elevation), is challenging the staff and volunteers to take part in a sort of "media fast" for one week. This presenting itself gives me the perfect opportunity to utilize my down time a little better. So I am going to attempt to rid myself of the TV for the week. Because it is summer re-run time, there are currently no shows that I find myself having to tune into weekly (like How I Met Your Mother and The Office that I watch in the fall/spring). So I know this is doable.

In thinking about other forms of media, the computer comes to mind. Because I am a “graphic” designer, I spend the majority of my work week behind my Mac. And especially more at home now since I began freelancing. So I know that this is not really possible to fast from because then I wouldn’t have income. So I thought that a better way to decrease my time here, is to stay away from the whole Facebook/MySpace thing. And since I barely check it anyway, this is doable.

I am also finally getting a gym membership. So the time I spend with the tube on while I clean/cook/relax after I get home from work will now be spent getting my bod back into shape.

As for video games, no problem, I don’t touch them anyway.

And lastly, my iPod. I’m thinking that the TV is feeding me far more garbage than my iPod. So I guess I could just allow the room to be silent a little more than blasting the new Coldplay album.

So my challenge is to convert the time I usually spend sitting in front of the TV into “me” time. Whether it be sifting through magazines for inspiration, picking out paint chips for my rental that still has yet to be painted, doing faith-based devotionals or writing blog entries, I’m going to attempt the media fast. I only see good things to come.