Digital daydreaming

Three ways to zone out (remotely)

It’s Tuesday.

2019.

I wake up at a reasonable time, shower, and make a quick cup of coffee on my way out the door.

I walk a few blocks to BART and then hop off at the Embarcadero station.

I make my way up to the office, directly to a second cup of coffee. While it’s brewing, I stare out the window watching people find their way through their day.

Meetings and emails pass and I head to a bar to meet a friend for a drink. I’m early, but don’t mind finding a spot to sit and wait.

Pre-now, my day was dotted with moments of daydreaming: commuting to work on BART or by bike, staring out a window for a moment, sitting somewhere, waiting…

Now, like many folks, my day exists within a tiny bubble of my apartment (/ office / gym / sewing room / therapy office / club); the time previously spent daydreaming now filled with questions of whether or not I should eat breakfast on zoom.

While this new, small reality I exist within is the result of a great deal of privilege (to be alive, to be working, to have a home to isolate within), it has also created a space in which to find new ways to disconnect and seek moments of pause and daydreaming.

Why daydream? Well, it’s good for your mind and helps build social skills and offers methods for coping with the stressful realities that we’re swimming within.

As we all find new ways to move through this new-new, I wanted to share three ways to replicate (not replace) the moments in which we’re able to disconnect, pause our minds, and take a few breaths:

Commuting

Take a ride in your favorite city and listen to the radio and ‘street noise’. Or ride around your own city from another perspective, or check out that place you’ve been dreaming of visiting.

Staring out a window

Spend a moment watching the world through a stranger’s window. Go one step further and build a story in your head about the person who occupies this space.

Waiting in a bar

Recreate the sounds of your favorite bar. While personally I would have loved an “AWKWARD FIRST DATE CONVERSATION” slider, this took me back to that moment of ending the day and starting the night with a friend.

If nothing else, I hope these help you find a moment to daydream or at least take in a bit of the past with some hope for the future.