'Slow content' like listening to records, reading books, watching movies have a bit of a "magic" quality to them since they are paced in a way that is more suitable to humans. We aren't built to be barraged and process the intense stream of content being thrown at us with short-form media like TikTok, instagram, X/bluesky, etc. As a result, people have less attention, are more anxious and paranoid, and get addicted to the occasional quick hit of 'feel good' content that is mixed among the trash.
It's part of why I enjoy things like fragrance. The acts of intentionally sitting down, smelling, pulling apart the notes, revisiting memories or things the scents remind me of, writing my notes down, etc all help to slow me down. Quite literally, stopping to smell the roses. Photography can also do this for me, forcing me to take an active role in *noticing* and capturing the beauty in the everyday.
While it's not really productive to be anti-contemporary media, having a balance with the wild media landscape and slower, more intentional (disconnected or not) activities to help re-center is important (I think). Otherwise, we end up stressed, anxious, depressed, and mentally exhausted -- none of which are particularly great places to try to muster inspiration to create from. One could argue this is by design, depending on how down the conspiracy rabbit hole you'd care to go, but that's beside the point.
If you're looking for an idea: you post a lot of photos of flowers elsewhere, maybe could do a series of posts highlighting some of these -- whether a fragrance currently exists or not -- and things about them that you like? *or* a series highlighting smells you have yet to find a scent for that you'd love to find? There's nothing wrong with a little self-indulgence and at least for me, sometimes that helps throw more fuel on the fire.
I feel this so much. Thanks for putting it out there into the world. As a 46 year old, I’m on the same basic cable channel. Social media has sapped any sort of creativity that I had which is not much. I feel the pull to post ad nauseum about what I’m doing, wearing, summer bangers as you say, sotd, etc, but I’m fighting it. I adopted a strategy recently. I’m only going to post longer pieces (on here) that I’d actually want to print out and bind into a physical book. Speaking of books, I think you should write a physical book/ebook/self published book of reviews or articles. There’s such a void of published work on perfumes, even reviews. It’s all just throwaway content for the most part, but how many of us still look at Turin and Sanchez’s guides? I do.
Ha. Yes. Belle and Sabastian. I wish others would nostalgically discover that soft is the new loud!
I knew we were similar in age! I am beginning to feel a bit more inspired since I was in this so-called rut, so maybe publishing something one day isn't such a far-fetched idea to me now.
The urge to slow down... I can relate! I've just embarked on a new creative activity: creating a "mood board" for a fragrance I like. I collect photos and put them together like a collage, taking my time, as though I were arranging flowers in a vase. It's a kind of fragrance ikebana. Take care. [Sorry for any linguistic oddities, I'm French.]
This was another resonator! I’ve been feeling a similar kind of writer’s burnout/block lately, made worse by a sudden disinterest in fragrance—the very fuel for my writing tank. It’s disorienting. “Exhausted and enervated” nails it.
The genesis of it all is a frustration with trying to reconcile what was, what is, what the heck is going to happen next out there, and why—WHY—is much of what we’re bombarded with in the media so sinisterly cheesy, vapid, and smarmy? And why is it that the slop and quick hit “content” is what is rewarded with all the “likes” and visibility.
I don't think anyone taking the time to craft long-form fragrance writing is trying to hit it big here on Substack. There’s a depth to that kind of perfume appreciation that gets completely lost in the “catch the newest summer banger” culture on TikTok and IG. But when you can’t (or don’t want to) plug into that relentless posting loop, it can start to feel like you’re shouting into the void. That sense of being unseen or unheard quickly spirals into inertia, ruthless self-criticism, and the decomposition of inspiration.
Your sentiments are not at all disjointed—thank you for sharing!
You're welcome, and thank you so much for your appreciation! I do think my first line of business is to simply stop comparing what I am doing here with other, more established SubStackers. I do have the option of just doing this entirely my own way and letting go of any concern that my approach isn't accessible enough. My audience will find me—actually it seems to be already finding me!
This is completely off subject but kinda of on subject, I’ve been noticing a lot of new music on sites like iTunes, etc… where the songs are under 3 minutes no more than 4 minutes. I remember when some music was 5 to 7 minutes longer, now it’s half of that. I was wondering why every song now is so short, you can barely get into a good song if it starts and abruptly ends by the time you are into it. Also, another bizarre phenomena, not here, there are older songs from artists where they literally speed the whole song up and that’s the new version of the old song, like “WTF?!”
Now what I’m getting to, all of this stuff I wrote is because most music artists now want music that can be easily utilized for people’s TIKTOKS and IG REELS! That’s it!
I was like are fucking kidding me?! Everything is being dumbed further down to accommodate persons with no attention spans. We are fucked.
Okay, enough of old man screaming “Get off my lawn” here 😂
Saturday I completed my third Attention Lab Workshop at the Strother School for Radical Attention. You may be interested in some of their programs, or at the least, checking out their website. This is not a solution for everyone, but it is really helpful to me in navigating today’s treacherous waters 💕
'Slow content' like listening to records, reading books, watching movies have a bit of a "magic" quality to them since they are paced in a way that is more suitable to humans. We aren't built to be barraged and process the intense stream of content being thrown at us with short-form media like TikTok, instagram, X/bluesky, etc. As a result, people have less attention, are more anxious and paranoid, and get addicted to the occasional quick hit of 'feel good' content that is mixed among the trash.
It's part of why I enjoy things like fragrance. The acts of intentionally sitting down, smelling, pulling apart the notes, revisiting memories or things the scents remind me of, writing my notes down, etc all help to slow me down. Quite literally, stopping to smell the roses. Photography can also do this for me, forcing me to take an active role in *noticing* and capturing the beauty in the everyday.
While it's not really productive to be anti-contemporary media, having a balance with the wild media landscape and slower, more intentional (disconnected or not) activities to help re-center is important (I think). Otherwise, we end up stressed, anxious, depressed, and mentally exhausted -- none of which are particularly great places to try to muster inspiration to create from. One could argue this is by design, depending on how down the conspiracy rabbit hole you'd care to go, but that's beside the point.
If you're looking for an idea: you post a lot of photos of flowers elsewhere, maybe could do a series of posts highlighting some of these -- whether a fragrance currently exists or not -- and things about them that you like? *or* a series highlighting smells you have yet to find a scent for that you'd love to find? There's nothing wrong with a little self-indulgence and at least for me, sometimes that helps throw more fuel on the fire.
Thank you so much, Matt. I appreciate your input greatly.
I feel this so much. Thanks for putting it out there into the world. As a 46 year old, I’m on the same basic cable channel. Social media has sapped any sort of creativity that I had which is not much. I feel the pull to post ad nauseum about what I’m doing, wearing, summer bangers as you say, sotd, etc, but I’m fighting it. I adopted a strategy recently. I’m only going to post longer pieces (on here) that I’d actually want to print out and bind into a physical book. Speaking of books, I think you should write a physical book/ebook/self published book of reviews or articles. There’s such a void of published work on perfumes, even reviews. It’s all just throwaway content for the most part, but how many of us still look at Turin and Sanchez’s guides? I do.
Ha. Yes. Belle and Sabastian. I wish others would nostalgically discover that soft is the new loud!
I knew we were similar in age! I am beginning to feel a bit more inspired since I was in this so-called rut, so maybe publishing something one day isn't such a far-fetched idea to me now.
Definitely not far fetched.
The urge to slow down... I can relate! I've just embarked on a new creative activity: creating a "mood board" for a fragrance I like. I collect photos and put them together like a collage, taking my time, as though I were arranging flowers in a vase. It's a kind of fragrance ikebana. Take care. [Sorry for any linguistic oddities, I'm French.]
I like this concept. Thank you!
This was another resonator! I’ve been feeling a similar kind of writer’s burnout/block lately, made worse by a sudden disinterest in fragrance—the very fuel for my writing tank. It’s disorienting. “Exhausted and enervated” nails it.
The genesis of it all is a frustration with trying to reconcile what was, what is, what the heck is going to happen next out there, and why—WHY—is much of what we’re bombarded with in the media so sinisterly cheesy, vapid, and smarmy? And why is it that the slop and quick hit “content” is what is rewarded with all the “likes” and visibility.
I don't think anyone taking the time to craft long-form fragrance writing is trying to hit it big here on Substack. There’s a depth to that kind of perfume appreciation that gets completely lost in the “catch the newest summer banger” culture on TikTok and IG. But when you can’t (or don’t want to) plug into that relentless posting loop, it can start to feel like you’re shouting into the void. That sense of being unseen or unheard quickly spirals into inertia, ruthless self-criticism, and the decomposition of inspiration.
Your sentiments are not at all disjointed—thank you for sharing!
You're welcome, and thank you so much for your appreciation! I do think my first line of business is to simply stop comparing what I am doing here with other, more established SubStackers. I do have the option of just doing this entirely my own way and letting go of any concern that my approach isn't accessible enough. My audience will find me—actually it seems to be already finding me!
This is completely off subject but kinda of on subject, I’ve been noticing a lot of new music on sites like iTunes, etc… where the songs are under 3 minutes no more than 4 minutes. I remember when some music was 5 to 7 minutes longer, now it’s half of that. I was wondering why every song now is so short, you can barely get into a good song if it starts and abruptly ends by the time you are into it. Also, another bizarre phenomena, not here, there are older songs from artists where they literally speed the whole song up and that’s the new version of the old song, like “WTF?!”
Now what I’m getting to, all of this stuff I wrote is because most music artists now want music that can be easily utilized for people’s TIKTOKS and IG REELS! That’s it!
I was like are fucking kidding me?! Everything is being dumbed further down to accommodate persons with no attention spans. We are fucked.
Okay, enough of old man screaming “Get off my lawn” here 😂
I think we oldies need to stick together and just find the humor in it all. Gallows humor, maybe? But humor nonetheless. 😂
Saturday I completed my third Attention Lab Workshop at the Strother School for Radical Attention. You may be interested in some of their programs, or at the least, checking out their website. This is not a solution for everyone, but it is really helpful to me in navigating today’s treacherous waters 💕
I want to thank you so much for this recommendation. I am checking it out now. 😊
I think it's time for you to sit quietly and make a perfume. Just one. I know you know how...:)
I think I should at least jot down some notes for a formula to start. Great to hear from you! 😊
Yes, it's time for an Autumn Amber. Make it work for all of us asthmatics out here!