Why Everything Feels Forgettable — and How Creativity Brings You Back to Life - Podcast Transcript

You can listen to this episode here: Ep 17: Why Everything Feels Forgettable

If you’ve noticed that movies, shows, games, or even entire weeks feel strangely forgettable — you’re not imagining it.

Many of us are consuming more than ever while feeling less engaged, less present, and less moved by our own lives. In this episode of Anchored & Alive, Blaze explores creativity and imagination as essential human needs, not productivity tools, and reflects on why passive consumption leaves us bored, disconnected, and burned out.

This episode invites you to rethink boredom, rediscover tactile and imaginative engagement, and reconnect with the kinds of experiences that actually create memory, meaning, and aliveness without pressure to produce or perform.

Hello everybody! I am so excited this week to talk about creativity and imagination and how it seems

that we've kind of gotten away from it in the last, I don't know, few decades. It's been a slow burn of

thing is getting so amazingly realistic and incredible.

simultaneously feeling so much more forgettable and less engaging. And I want to talk about it because as someone who's been an artist and

cares a lot about crafting and making things. It's been difficult to witness this.

But it's also made me so curious about what's really going on here. So I had a conversation with one of my good friends recently, and we were talking about

Nintendo and the games that we had when we were kids so we're talking back in the 80s and the 90s.

We had like little Nintendo handheld game boys.

and we were delighting in our memory of it because I had just finished creating

a handbag. This is a whole story. Let's start at the beginning. All right, so this past month.

One of my winter projects was to sew a new pocketbook for myself because the one that I had

I've been using for about 15 years. It was starting to wear out in holes and it was so faded from the sunshine. Like there was one pocket where I opened it and went, "Oh my God, this was dark green ones." But it's kind of almost like a pale mustardy yellow green now. Like you can't even tell.

It's a great out so much. It just felt like a faded version of me in the past. And I thought, OK, it's time to.

move forward and create something new. And I had a bunch of t-shirts that I had bought.

and liked and they're super soft and wonderful and nice and they had really fun themes on them and I liked them but they weren't fitting well anymore.

because they just weren't. And I don't want to throw them out and I didn't want to wear them because I can't because they're uncomfortable. So I thought, well, I'll repurpose them.

So I was taking some of these t-shirts and making them like features of this new

And one of the images was of some explorers in the woods.

coming across like a Game Boy that had been grown over in the jungle, like it's just ancient ruins.

And it delighted me because it just really hit up this memory for me of being a kid sitting on the couch with my brothers and playing in the winter.

Tetris and Paperboy and Super Mario Bros. and all of these things.

that I spent hundreds of hours on as a kid, and it was delightful.

Sharing the bag with my friend, he thought the same thing. He's like, "Oh my gosh, wasn't it amazing that as kids..."

There were these games that were just literally pixels, like little squares, bopping around and moving around and barely drawn well, really, because they were on these little tiny screens. And yet they captured our imagination.

and we felt so involved and alive in those games. And we played them and we still remember them now 20, 30 years later.

And then we got to talking about, isn't it interesting that now we have surround sound and everything like--

moves the seat that you're in and the colors are incredible and it's got movie intros and outros and

moments in the middle of the game where there's like a whole cinematic scene and then it goes in and out. And yet.

We don't remember them, we don't care that much. It's not something that we're that attached to.

And honestly, some of these things that are beautiful, like incredible, are so forgettable.

what's going on. And I really loved thinking about this because it made me think, well, what is going on? And my immediate reaction was,

If it's a perfect rendition of someone else's story told perfectly and just given to me as a delivery.

It becomes background noise in the same way that my actual reality can become background noise because it's so perfectly painted.

and it's so complete, and I didn't have to interact with it, and I didn't have to imagine anything about it, and it didn't ask anything of me.

And so it became this thing that happened that I don't care that much about, even if, for the few hours that I watched the movie, it was really engaging, or for the few moments that I played the video game, it was kind of fun.

but I don't feel like I want to come back and keep exploring and make it a part of my identity, I guess.

And I'm not gonna say like Nintendo defined my childhood or anything, but it was a piece.

that felt really much more demanding of me as an intelligent person. Like there was more for me to figure out sometimes in those games and time out.

And I cared about them despite them just being a bunch of little squares bopping around versus some of these highly rendered things that I interact with now on a regular basis.

So what's up with that? Why is it that it's so easy to forget or not care about all of these really beautifully executed, gorgeous things that were just surrounded with all the time?

And I think it leads me back to this need that we have.

to really engage in our environment and feel like what we do and how we interact matters and we care more.

if we had to think more, and we care more if we had to make something up about it.

or ask ourselves questions about it and make it more personally engaging or interesting.

So another theme that came up in remembering this was, "What were the games that I liked that were on the computer back then?"

And beyond the ones that felt like really exciting for me, as I don't know, a fifth grade or like chomp, where the little fish would like fly out of the fishbowl and...

eat things and get eaten. That one was pretty boring, but I really liked Hero's Quest and...

the idea that you had to move your little digital character around, but you'd have to type in your own questions and there wasn't a drop-down menu for the first like two games you actually had to come up with your own questions.

So you actually had to figure out what the game was about on your own. It wasn't given to you. You didn't know what the game was about. You just got told, "Here's the scenario," and you had to go out and just ask questions and figure out, "What were your quests?"

and how would you get better at doing things? And you'd have to come up with interesting ways to make things happen. And that was so engaging that I have a nostalgia for it now. And I'm like, man, if I had a way to be able to play that now, I absolutely would.

even though to all intents and purposes, it would suck compared to what it could play. Now we have Witcher and all these other things with amazing

3D worlds and interaction and all this stuff and, you know, here's Quest and all that stuff. Quest for glory. It didn't. But it still...

was really fun and I remember spending time with my brothers really discussing like, "Hey, when you're on this screen, what happens?" And, "Hey, I figured if I am."

If I said throw rock and I had a book just laying on the space bar, I would repeat it so I could just

say throw rock and leave the room and let my character like level up throwing rocks and how I'm good at throwing when I go to throw a dagger I'm like totally gonna win. We would come up with all kinds of hacks and stuff which is again human nature and us being really creative.

And it made me laugh. I'm thinking, wow, that's what it is to be human, is to always try to find a way to game the system, to figure out what your goals are.

to figure out what the story is and figure out who you're going to be within that story. So some of that was role-playing that's become important for me as an adult too, to just like have games and be able to play.

and try lots of different things out, and to make meaning about what I'm doing.

versus when I get given a game and told here are all the rules and this is how you play. Sometimes that's not as fun.

And sometimes I want to think more.

I think when I have to think about a show and I have to figure out what's going on.

That's so exciting. And I don't know. Maybe it's just, there's too many shows to pick from to find the few gems now.

Perhaps that's part of it too, is like there's so much to choose from that it's overstimulating and it's more difficult now.

to find the thing that everybody hones in on. So I know in decades past there were just shows that everybody kind of latched on to and was like, "What happened here? Who murdered this person in Twin Peaks and what's going on with that?" Everybody would be excited because it was something that we were all

collectively trying to figure out and that's something very engaging. Now it seems like there's less of that because you can just binge the whole show and find the conclusion in a few days.

or you can catch the sum up, or it's just not, it's so formulaic, we've kind of seen a lot of stuff at this point and it just keeps regurgitating itself.

So I'm not saying that to be depressing because I actually am excited about this question.

which is, well, then what do I do to have a more engaging experience?

And you can still use technology to do it and it's all around us and you're going to have amazing movie experiences, but.

The things that you might engage more with and remember more probably have more to do with things that you have to think about harder.

you have to discuss with somebody. There's some kind of interaction. There's something that sparks an emotion in you.

something that you do physically with your hands, all of those things really help us form memory.

and they help us build meaning into our interactions with the world. And I think maybe that's

what I'm wanting to cultivate more as I'm going into the spring, into that energy, as winter is starting to loosen its hold.

I'm thinking about, okay, well, how do I want to move into this year?

and what kind of experiences would I enjoy having and what might be purposeful?

for me to work on with other people or collaborate on or dream about or anything.

So I put that question out to you as well. What's going on in your life and what is working for you?

that's really helping you remember it. I guess like is there an engaging story or something cool that you've seen?

that you actually want to share. I would love to hear in the comments, like, is there still stuff worth watching? I want to know that. What made you think? What made you go, "Oh my gosh, this book is incredible because..."

There's so much that you can immerse into and imagine and try to figure out.

That's amazing. I want to hear more of that. What are the projects in your life?

that requires something of you. And I guess that is where I'm going with it is.

And for me, anything that I remember required something of me.

I don't remember the days where I did nothing and nothing was asked of me. I don't remember all the movies that I watched.

you know, once or twice in the past. But there are certain things that I've returned to.

that helped me build meaning, that remind me of what it's like to be curious, that inspire me to want to do stuff.

And a lot of it has to do with simplifying down and not being constantly engaged and always having something to do. Like there's real power in boredom.

And I don't know if that gets talked about often enough. That being bored is this huge gift and most of the time we kind of

Look at boredom as a sign that we're just not busy enough or something's wrong. And rather than feel it because it feels kind of uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

We usually just default to background noise and whatever we usually do. I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else. Like I'll just go play the same video game and whatever.

What I am craving now though in this season is to create some stuff.

to have my hands on in my own existence and in my own life. So it's remembering, hey, I've got an instrument. I should try and play it some.

Maybe I'm never going to play a concerto or anything, but I have the ability to use my fingers and my hands and my ears in practice.

and to build up some more strength in my shoulder and chin to actually hold this feel and do a good job.

Wouldn't that be fun? And to not ask myself to do it, to prove anything,

or I guess to get anywhere with it, I'm not interested right now in adding more demands to myself, so I want to be clear on that.

What I'm asking myself to do, though, is to have moments in my life where I'm touching things and creating stuff for the sheer fun of it, because it's interesting, because I find it mentally stimulating or physically engaging or just

something, but that it's not me putting my whole mind and emotions and body on hold.

for a better season or another season because I'm realizing that's not coming. You know, like, or it is. But I'm going to miss it if I never actually just decide to engage in it.

If I put everything off or I think about like, "Oh, it would be really nice in a few years to be able to play well. I'll never play well because I need to play now to be able to play better later."

It's the same with going "oh, I have all these cool art supplies" and maybe I'd like to do some drawings and stuff.

And I haven't been doing it not for years and I think part of that is response to just burnout from my own past. But some of it is.

worry that it needs to be done well or that there needs to be a product or something at the end.

And what I'm giving myself permission to do now is to really be part of that creative process and let something cool emerge, but not demand that of myself.

So something that can be really freeing for us in this season in particular, or as we try to awaken our creativity or reconnect with that spark in us, is to give ourselves permission to not have to show anything, to not have to prove anything, to not be good at it, to just do it for the activity's sake.

to be able to give ourselves moments and entire seasons

where the object of doing it is just to engage your senses.

and not to show off, not to have anything to show at the end. Although it's really cool, if you do have something to show at the end.

It's why I like doing things with my hands is you make stuff and then you can be like, "Look what I did, look what I made. It's fun to play around with clay. It's fun to do a drawing."

It's fun to play music. It's fun to read a book with my hands. Like even with an e-reader, it's just fun to do something like that or go for a walk or play in the dirt.

All of those things have tactile sensations. Those tend to create memory for me. They engage a lot more of me than just my mind.

and I think when I'm passively consuming stuff. I guess that's where I'm at.

TV and watching movies is fun, but it's not fun in the same way as

going in the canoe with somebody and having an experience.

It doesn't demand very much of me because it's passive consumption if I'm watching TV. But if I go out and decide like, "Oh yeah, I'm going on a hike with my dad," or "We're gonna go in the canoe and go out on the water,"

That's going to demand something of me, like I have to be present and be aware and use my body and think about stuff. And that's a lot more engaging.

Sometimes I have energy for that. Sometimes I don't. But at the end of a week,

and I look back and think of all the things I did, I'm not going to remember all the TV shows I watched, but I would remember going out with my dad and hiking or being in a canoe.

And I think there's a reason for that. That's what I've been really trying to convey here is when we actually engage ourselves.

And there's either an interaction with another person or another being, whether that's an animal or a family member or a friend.

community or a pet or a plant. All of that is much more

Mmm, I feel like it gives back to us. It's much more engaging. And passive consumption, even if it's a really good story from someone else, if it didn't ask me to think about anything.

It's gonna be forgettable. I think of some of the best speeches that I've heard, and they've always asked me a question or made me feel like

Being present for that conversation, I wasn't passive. I was asked something.

In the same way that I ask you, like, well, what do you think about it? What would make the most difference to you?

in order to remember something. Is there an activity that you did this week that's unforgettable?

And if nothing happened that was memorable in any way, what are you gonna do to fix that?

because I would say none of us want to live a life where we can't remember anything because it was that boring and unengaging and nothing cool happened and we didn't make anything happen.

That sucks. Nobody wants to feel like that. It's something that we're all longing for is like this participation in our lives and wanting to feel like

It mattered that we're here. It matters that we're interacting with other people.

and that it matters that we're participating in the activities that we choose. I want to say also,

that having that engagement and feeling like you mattered doesn't have to be loud and it doesn't have to be

bold. It doesn't have to be like, "I did this and the whole world saw it and it was amazing."

It's just as important and just as effective to have it be even just for you.

But this moment of real presence, of doing something that you felt like sharing with someone else or talking about later,

So I want to say that too, is not to say like we all need to be motivated to go out and change the world or change.

how we're interacting with everything and suddenly become these productive people. I'm all for being productive, but I think it's more important for us.

to live lives where we're engaged enough with it and we enjoy it enough and we're doing things that are specific enough to ourselves

that make us feel good and spark something in us. It sparks an idea or a feeling or a joy.

in such a way that we'd want to share it with someone else. That makes us go, "Oh my gosh, that made me feel something. It made me want to write a letter to my friend and say, "Oh my God, this cool thing happened."

And it's so funny that some of the things that make me the most delighted to share with someone else.

had nothing to do with me. It's me looking out the window after a huge snowstorm and we had shoveled and then it snowed again and seeing like little tiny bird footprints up the walkway.

And thinking, "Oh my God, that's the cutest thing I've ever seen." And running to tell my daughter, "Come look at this, it's adorable. There's our footprints coming in from where we went to get the mail, but then look at all these little bird prints that came after that where they were looking for whatever blew off the roof."

It's amazing. That kind of presence. You can't fake that.

And it's just as important to living a fulfilling, wonderful life as saying, "Hey, guess what? This week I completed this amazing task and I don't know, like I won."

some kind of prize or whatever. All of that is external validation, but moments of presence and things that made you think.

Those are gonna stick with you. Me noticing the little bird prints in the snow was exciting because I had to imagine what they were like. Where were they? When were they?

How many birds were there? But I could imagine them, like it's little gray snowbird things that come only in the season. I know exactly what they look like.

And I can think of their little sounds, and I didn't see them, but I saw the evidence of them and it made me think about it. And that brought me into my life, into my body.

enough to bring another human over to come look at it and share that story. It's that simple.

That's the kind of excitement that is part of us embodying our lives and actually being there.

versus hearing about it. Like, hey, look at this video. Hey, someone filmed this and curated it for me.

And it's perfect and it's so beautiful. We're all bored by that. We want to live in messy sloppy lives, and I'm all for that. I'm raising my hand for a sloppy, messy life that is mine and it's...

lived and it's real and it's shareable and it's fun.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and have a messy, fun life that you're just...

Therefore and enjoying and whenever you can.

Choose something that's just for you. Choose something that brings a smile to your face. Choose something simple.

and share that with the people that you care about rather than

waiting for stuff to be just given to you.

or just, I guess, becoming the person that's always receiving so much external output that you're too tired to take in anymore.

I'm tired of being that and I'm ready to be the person that shares little bird footprints and...

has a lived life and not just a life where I'm

consuming, I don't know, artifacts of other people's experiences. I want to have my own, and I want you to have your own too.

And I think it's so important in the stay in age. All right, my friends, stay anchored and alive. And I will see you next week.