When consumption consumes

Like everyone else, I enjoy the limitless pleasure of entertainment that now fills our air and hangs at our fingertips. I scroll, binge, and giggle endlessly. “This is why I’m never leaving this app,” and all of that. We are together.

But once in a while, it dawns on me—while watching the greatest actors, the masters of the round-leather game, or the genius of skit-makers on Instagram—that I’m consuming the work of people who have given years to practice, craft, and focus.

And somehow, sometimes, that same greatness distracts me from the focus required to do the work that could one day carry the same weight.

It’s a strange irony. People built the biggest social platforms out of grit and innovation. Now, many of us are so consumed by them, we barely have time to commit grit to our own mission. Many similar parallels come to mind.

I still enjoy these things. And yes, some can be inspiring—even helpful to my own craft. But I try not to enjoy them at the cost of my own work. I try. I reflect on this often: I don’t want to consume greatness so much that it consumes me, and stops me from creating my greatness.