This month’s Indie Web Carnival, hosted by Juha-Matti Santala, has the theme “Creative Environments”, and it got me thinking. For me, the importance of my environment has changed radically over the years.
In the past, I always used a computer to write, and I needed a quiet space. Otherwise, I could hardly get anything done. It was very restrictive, to say the least.
These days, the location isn’t so important. I enjoy writing in coffee shops, but the bus or my home works just as well. In fact, I’m writing this on my phone, sitting in the shade at a burger joint in my hometown of Stockholm, sipping a beer.
Quiet or not doesn’t matter that much either. I find that background chatter can actually enhance creativity. If it gets too loud, I just plug in my AirPods and put on my personalized radio station on Apple Music.
Whether I write on my computer or my phone, I like to have a clean, distraction-free digital space. Since I use Markdown for my blog, I prefer an editor that supports it, like iA Writer.
But I’ve found that my creativity sparks most when I’m out living life — working, meeting people, exercising, reading books, watching movies, and discovering new places. No physical environment in the world could ever compensate for that.
Whatever our preferences are, I think the most important thing is to stay curious.