9 projects i’m working on that makes me forget i own a phone

you simply have to become too busy to scroll

i used to force the head of a torch into my eyeballs every morning and wait for them to adjust to the small text on the screen of someone complaining or a news story that would inevitably make my heart sink a little lower in my chest. i used to disrupt those first couple of seconds of bliss where i wasn’t quite sure what day it was, what time it was or who i even was, those few seconds first thing in the morning when you wake up and you’re purely an animal adjusting to your surroundings and becoming aware of your base needs; food, water, warmth, whether another half an hour of sleep might be nice. instead i batted that moment away to see if anyone liked me enough over night and left me notifications in my sleep.

like an unhealthy relationship, my phone became the centre of my life. we weren’t two separate people, with different things to offer each other, looking for a way to bind and connect, helping each other out in our own unique ways. instead i became dependent on this one thing for attention, entertainment, escapism, answers to all my questions, worries and fears. i had to step away and remember who i was without the phone. isn’t that crazy? how quickly it can creep up on you? how all of a sudden you wake up from the dream where you feel like you’ve been falling for weeks and months and years and realise you need to take some drastic measures to make sure you don’t fall again. because it’s not as easy as stepping away from the ledge. you need rope and strength and grit and grip.

and once you’re confident you won’t start falling again, perhaps once you know you can fall asleep with your phone under your pillow to check the time in the morning and put it back down again, maybe you could enjoy a bungee jump every now and then. it’s not all bad down there, but the strength of the pull never ceases. the jump looks more enticing than it is. there is an abundance of things to do on land. you just haven’t turned around long enough to notice.

here are nine projects i’m currently working on that means i simply don’t have time to fall off the cliff into the abyss:

• a deep dive into white nights by fyodor dostoyevsky

i read this book a month or so ago and i am still thinking about it. the characters, their wishes, their behaviours, their choices. there is so much to this story and one read simply won’t do it for me. i’m working through my second read and annotating the pages this time to get a closer look at the themes, how loneliness and desperation appears not only in dialogue and what this story is trying to say. i’m recapturing the joy of analysing text like i used to do in english classes at school. i’m staying in close contact with a book for a couple of months instead of just a week, updating whatever book tracking app i’m using and moving on to the next.

• a closer look at the city and its uncertain walls by haruki murakmai

if you’ve been with me long enough you’ll know this man is my favourite author. i am slowly working my way through his complete works which were all published years ago, but this one is the first time i’ve been able to mark a murakami release date on my calendar and get it the day it came out. i savoured owning this book and only started reading it at the start of this year so it could be the first book i read for 2025. if you want my full thoughts on this book you can watch my review here.

now that i’ve finished the book, i’m working on a reread of part one since i didn’t enjoy it so much (and is the reason i took so long to finish) but i have about a thousand questions now and i feel like most of the answers lie in part one. similarly to white nights, i’m spending time with this book, finding answers to my questions, writing mini essays in my reading journal, reading reviews online and putting thoughts and theories together. this book is taking up a lot of space in my mind right now, and i love it.

• writing every week for you, of course

this substack newsletter also, delightfully, takes up a lot of space in my mind, especially when it comes to the quiet list series where i give you a wrap up of articles and media i’ve enjoyed recently. it makes me pay more attention to what i’m reading, watching and listening to. i linger on things a little more, take notes here and there, take a moment to work our why this resonated with me so much. and then i also think whether my quiet readers would also love this.

i’m always busy thinking of new things to write about, new ways to communicate my thoughts, how to improve this newsletter so you get the most out of it and enjoy seeing me pop up in your inboxes every week or sometimes twice a week. i’m busy thinking about offering you the most value, especially my paid subscribers who i’m so incredibly grateful for. all of you mean so much to me, and you always take priority, especially over scrolling.

• creating a personal website to bring the fun back to being online again

discovering the indie web and the amount of creativity still on the internet today has inspired me to no end. i’ve always loved designing websites just for fun but i realise now that i have been stifling myself, restricting myself to the constraints of boring, minimalist design you see practically everywhere nowadays. babies can’t even play with colourful toys anymore for goodness sake. so i’m tapping out. i’m working on the most aggressively pink website you’ve ever seen it will give you a headache. i’m also looking forward to the freedom of updating my website however much or little i want without some ugly little algorithm goblin breathing down my throat.

• bullet journaling but make it literary

bullet journaling isn’t just for mapping out your month in the most aesthetic way possible, you can use those little dotted pages for engaging with your hobbies a little more too. my bullet journal is now mostly for creating monthly wrap up spreads and spreads for the books i’ve finished reading, decorating it according to the cover style and themes i picked up on while reading and writing small, messy reviews. flicking through these pages and seeing all the books i’ve read summarised like this is a joy i’ll never get tired of. it’s what i imagine artists feel when they flip through their sketchbook. i’ve always thought that must be an incredible feeling. now i think i’ve got an idea!

• researching for fun

one of my greatest regrets is the subjects i studied for my undergraduate degree. i also really hate that we have to make such an important decision when we’re so young. there’s no way i could drop another £27k, or however much it is now to study for a degree i don’t even want to know, and study topics that genuinely light me up inside now, now that i am full human being with clear interests and preferences, not remotely the person i was when i was 18.

but just because i can’t roam around a pretty campus and study from a clearly structured syllabus doesn’t mean i can’t enjoy the act of study. i have a list of topics i want to dive into when i’m ready but i am also actively thinking of concepts and ideas i want to flesh out with proper research. at the moment, i’m interested in moral absolutism and what drives us to be good people even though life seems inherently chaotic and nonsensical.

• growing a digital garden

i can’t believe i never discovered this sooner but i have absolutely adored the idea of creating a digital garden, somewhere i can keep all the interesting things i come across online and all my thoughts and watch them grow and intertwine with each other. i know i said this list makes me forget i own a phone, but i do use the notes app for this since it has a great tagging system that makes the digital garden what it is.

i have a folder called today’s notes [date] where i jot down ideas i’m having or articles that have made me think and write a quick summary so i make sure i’ve fully digested the idea. i also write down my own interpretations and take things one step further, giving my own two cents like i’m analysing a piece of fiction. how does this information work in a wider context? how does this narrative fit into the current climate? what does this mean for this group of people or how does this make me think differently about xyz? always lots to think about!

• exercise tbh

most days i like to get in half an hour on the treadmill as well as a 30-45 minute workout. on top of working a 9 to 5, this substack, my youtube channel and fitting in moving my body intentionally, sometimes i just don’t have the time for anything else. just when i might think i have a moment to look at instagram (for example), i realise i need to get changed for my workout so i have time after lunch to send in that piece of work for my job.

at the end of one of these exhausting days, all i want to do is get back to the book i was reading in the morning before i started work. (especially if it’s a juicy thriller; i just finished the garden party by b.p. walter and oh my god?? devoured in 1.5 days). moving my body takes precedence over everything and it automatically structures my day to make me focus on the things that are most important.

• my youtube channel

filming and editing simply takes a lot of time. despite this, i’m really enjoying the process of creating in this way and after completing another video (or two) for the week, i love doing a final screening (if you will) and feeling proud that i created this thing. i’ve been speaking a lot about books on my channel recently, which is also making me think a little more about the books i’m reading and how i can communicate my thoughts about them through the medium i’ve chosen.

i’ve found that there is always something i could be doing instead of scrolling on social media. i’m simply too busy for her. the thing that itches my brain and says what’s going on on twitter right now or maybe someone has posted something funny on reels has practically disappeared. instead of thinking about my phone, i’m thinking about myself and my hobbies and my projects, the things that keep my attention because they are interesting to all the bits and pieces that make up the unique being that i am, not something that’s been engineered to capture the minds of everyone on the planet, like being force-fed gruel that has all your basic nutrients in it. no thanks. i think i’d rather browse the fruit and veg aisle myself.

more ideas for you you to mix and match and fill your time with

• a big crochet project that will undoubtedly take up a lot of your time like a blanket, a throw, pillowcases with intricate designs or just the process of learning how to crochet

• creating a list of questions to ask yourself and write about after every book you’ve read

• morning pages, the journaling practice created by julia cameron of the artist’s way, where you take time every morning to just write. and write a lot. you won’t have time to spend half an hour on your phone in bed because you’ve got this fit this in before you get ready for work

• getting through a book series

• actually finishing a video game

• reaching an exercise goal (running 5k comfortably, lifting a certain number of weights, doing the splits, a hard yoga pose)

• learning a fun skill like flower arranging, scent matching, colour matching, wine pairing, cryptic crosswords, coding

• finding a mindless hobby (like diamond painting or crocheting) while listening to a stimulating podcast (some of my faves include in our time: philosophy by bbc radio 4, critics at large by the new yorker, your undivided attention by the center for humane technology)

• call your friends and relatives regularly, get chatting, get yapping

• start bullet journaling, the popular time scheduling way or any way you want. use your hands, get sticky, cut things out, get ink on your fingers, test out different layouts. you could even get into digital planning (the abundance of stickers alone will draw you in)

• stick to a weekly hike or daily nature walk routine

my latest bullet journal spread (2025)

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hello quiet readers, i think i’ve yapped enough for one week so i’ll just hope you enjoyed this week’s post and wish you a wonderful rest of your week!

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see you next wednesday <3