Think Outside
I lived in a world full of life, wilderness, and play when I was growing up in wilds of west Wales, but the urge of change came when I got older.
Boring became my speciality word, and was obsessed about going to the big city.
And then I did.
A welshman living the dream in London, working hard, but playing even harder. Harder was the way to do it, if you hadn’t worked the weekend, or a late night, who actually were you, same with partying. I landed in the world of fashion, a welshman “hob mobbing” with the elite, and I loved it, until I realised, nothing inspired me, because it was shallow.
I needed more, something that had meaning. Stimulation is an interesting thing, it’s like a drug (another one), where you needed inspiration from everywhere. London was full of dreams, but it came with a drink, and everything else. 20 years later, burn out. Mentally and physically.
I was putting shit into my body and the same old shit came out. London wasn’t what I wanted from it, it became a playground for my needs, but my needs were medication, just to drive me on.
STOP.
I did, no more alcohol, no more drugs, no more everything. In came my wife to be, tee-totalish, and full of life (real life).
We decided to move out, just a little at first, maybe to sample some nature but near enough just incase.
The more I was surrounded by nature, my past came back (the good stuff). We have to remember, we live in a world where people thrive and fuel themselves on information, inspiration and collaboration. A world that everyone is connected to the same things. Sometimes it’s hard to be an individual, a unique force of nature.
But now, nature was the fuel, the inspiration. Sometimes we forget that the environment around us is ever changing, not on Pinterest or on our favourite website, the actual world around you, the environment that you live in.
I started asking my bosses if you could take a few days away from the office to think about a project, weird faces looked back. “Why would you want to go anywhere else, our office is so cool”. Exactly, it was like anywhere else, cool. I didn’t need cool, I wanted something different, ever changing, bloody real.
So off I went for long walks, I couldn’t run yet, my body had been bashed over the years, so walking was a good start. I would come back to the office a present 15 ideas, and people were blown away. You have to remember that none of these ideas had trees or leaves in them, most of the projects I was working on was for technology brands or even automotive, but being away from man made world gave me a different perspective on the problem.
You need look at nature from a different perspective. It can be a social eco-system, a designed interface, an ever-changing narrative, or just a piece of art.
I learn to look at things differently, see it through different eyes, Nature can be a direct inspiration to solve a problem. Paying attention is the first step, being “nature smart”.
Then the running came into things, I was a big runner when I was young(ger) but my way of life put a stop on that. Running was something I had to work on, slowly slowly. But I found that it came to me naturally, because, it’s natural. It’s in me, my dad was an international runner, and all my brothers were high achievers in rugby. So in the blood it was. But when I started to get some miles in, and especially through the wilderness, that’s when magic would happen.
When we think about the release and endorphins and the heart rate getting higher we think of stress and hard work. But when you are focusing on one thing, another gets to work. Moving through nature, is the most natural experience. Moving through it at pace, feeding, nourishing, my appetite for ideas. Pausing to reflect, while sweat enters the earth from my body. A twist in a twig to the aroma of lichen stains under my nails, the building blocks to a theory or a solution that’s probably miles away from this natural habitat. Why would you do anything else?
Science has told us that biophilic experiences can reduce stress, improve cognitive function, and enhance mood and creativity. These and other outcomes can increase health and wellbeing, as well as productivity. So why do we still think inside the box? When the whole of society wants us to create new ideas, unique solutions, outside the box thinking.
I think about this text while walking through my local forest, early in the morning when civilisation still sleeps, or even when the rest of our people travel in tin cans to other boxes, and look through just one frame, window into the world, the computer. Don’t get me wrong, this will be typed up in computer, but if we as people look for our inspiration on Google or Pinterest, then we will follow the same path, same ideas, same solutions.
The reasons I’m cheerful is that my inspiration, my office, my workshop, my life is in the natural world that changes with every second. My world is not static, it moves, and moves me. Sit, stand in the same place, all year round. See the ever changing glow. Learn how it reinvents itself, moves around you.
Think outside, leave the box behind.
Andrew Thomas
Creative director, run leader and founder of On The Run Creative
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy Slower, Further, Deeper and How Moving Kept Me Moving