I Shower In The Dark

You are deprived of one of humanity’s most valuable resources: true silence. 

I’m constantly consuming. Not just in the modern way of I watch too much Disney+, but in a deeper way: my entire existence is based around entertaining my senses. I look at flashing screens 7+ hours a day. My balcony is above a busy street littered with furniture moving vans and their back-up beepers. Often, I sip on a naturally flavored blueberry lemonade Trader Joes sparkling water. Before bed, I read a chapter of Thrawn: Ascendancy before hitting play on a podcast that propels me into the abyss of sleep.

For most of us, there is only one daily rhythm where these senses are no longer entertained: the shower.

The shower is a sensory deprivation chamber that forces your mind to look internally when it can’t be stimulated externally. The senses are unable to be distracted by outside factors. The water operates as white noise, silencing the sirens outside. The constant smell of soap prevents your nose from being invaded by a pungent aroma. You no longer feel the itch on your shoulder, as the flowing water acts as white noise for your skin. And finally, if you’re in the dark, you can’t see anything. 

You can go your whole day without thinking. As external noise jams its way into your brain's valuable real estate. As Herbert A Simon puts it “information… consumes the attention of its recipients.” The information is good. But, you probably already have more than enough. How you synthesize that information together is much more important.

We often think we need more inspiration to create good work. That’s not true. You’ve seen way more visual imagery than da Vinci. You’ve listened to more songs than Mozart ever heard. Perhaps when trying to create, we should attempt to limit our consumption versus consuming more. 

All my greatest creative ideas come to me while I’m in the shower. When my brain stops consuming, even for a moment, it can finally explore. Creatives need silence in their life. For some, that looks like meditation or a digital detox. For me, it looks a little absurd: showering in the dark.