The Return to Analog | A Message for Millennials & GenZ

As I finished up my second of nearly two half-marathon distance runs this weekend, I found myself in awe of my surroundings. Weaving through the forest, reaching out to touch each of the old growth trees I passed, whispering a soft thank you to each, for what I’m not even sure yet, perhaps today it is for the wisdom, calm and rich oxygenated scent they cast over me.

These runs, along with much of what fills my life these days is part of a chapter of learning and exploration I can only describe as “a return to analog”.

We’ve lost the plot.

Actually, for many of us Millennials and GenZ we never had it to begin with. Despite a growing sense of ego and pride that has come with being a digitally affluent generation, there is so much we were not taught as a result of the environment we grew up in. These gaps begin with the foundational life principles such as combining long bouts of adversity or hardship with intention reflection to understand who we truly are and the ability to articulate our non-negotiable core values. And compound with the inability to strategically combine those earned values with a goal or pursuit that intrinsically fuels us — a beautiful process which provides us the fuel and resilience that can endure greater doses of adversity and challenge which ultimately accelerates our growth and learning as humans. No, this is not bio-hacking or becoming an overnight IG celebrity —but the slow, painstaking learning and growth required to develop the strongest and most true sense of who we are in this world.

Coddling compounded by technology

But we are also unknowing victims to the larger ‘software is eating the world’ trend whereby nearly every experience within our capitalist society is increasingly one in which we are being manipulated to do more of what these companies, now more powerful than governments, need from us — our views, our clicks, our likes, in micro-doses, the more the better — all in the name of shareholder value.

And long before it was too late, before we even had a clue of the chess board being maneuvered, our behaviours and habits were being subconsciously undermined. Our brains rewritten, triggering devastating physiological shifts in our bodies and creating what we now, over a decade later can clearly see as a negative feedback loop driving stress, anxiety and depression to uncontrollable levels.

Hence, our simple but challenging return to analog.

Return to Analog — a working definition

A seeking out of ways to invest our time, focus and attention in singular non-digital experiences that completely immerse us in an intrinsically motivating environment that is greater than ourselves.

Activities and experiences that connect us with the living, breathing world around us, that cause us to seek to understand new depths of truth and belief, that motivate us to pursue mastery over a new skill requiring rigorous focus and attention.

We don’t have to travel far, mentally or physically, to identify what these ingredients could begin to look like in our life. Once you become aware of the immense power and value of these activities; going for a walk in the forest, sitting in the stillness of meditation, spending 100% immersed quality time with loved ones, the glamour surrounding our ‘hyper connected, always on’ digital world quickly becomes less attractive.

But it is not that easy. Precisely the opposite, for all of us who have grown up in environments that were comfortable and privileged, combined with an external landscape focused on hijacking our brains for corporate profit — the return to analog may be one of the hardest journeys we make.

Escaping the Comfort Zone

The temptation to return to the comfort of our devices, the rabbit hole of endless content and subtle dopamine hits just potent cause us to crave more but consciously go unnoticed, will be painstaking.

We are breaking the greatest addiction we never knew we had — cast upon us by corporations 10 times more powerful than the tobacco industry of our parents and grandparents generation.

Many of us will be sucked back in, immediately feeling better from the buzz of our phone and the notification icon lighting up. Our hijacked brains returning to comfort, immobilized and hooked up to the IV drip of our addictive digital medicine— but ultimately, day by day, we feel more depleted and empty as the short term highs quietly turn into long term depression. We are trapped.

Seek Simplicity

There is no right path in each of our migration’s back to analog. No right way of doing it, other than showing up and committing to the present moment. There are times where it may feel hard, where you would rather be doing something mindless to comfortably pass your time.

For those of us who have had the opportunity to experience the hard work of looking deep within and peeling back the layers to articulate, to own, who we are — in service of believing in something that we are able to stand up and step out for — this journey will be your starting point.

For those of us who know this North Star with every ounce of conviction in our bodies, the diligent investment in the analog will become our greatest well of recovery and subconscious brilliance — which provide us with the lightning strikes of energy to fuel is to greater challenges and adventures.

How to flip the switch

Start small.

Make an investment in something that feels good in your gut, ignore the pull back to the digitally connected world trying to convince you you’re missing something. You’re not.

Go on a 30 day analog pilgrimage. Pick one activity: a walk, writing, meditation, fishing, reading, and spend 30 uninterrupted minutes every day invested in this simple, singular practice. Keep a log of what your life looks like from day 1 to day 30.

Sadly, I know even the task above will too challenging for 90% of us.

If you want to be a part of that 10%, I am here to support you.

Have questions? Need a more concrete place to start?

I’m a message or note away.

We cannot afford to wait — the greatest risk in life is to delay movement through fear and towards discomfort only to wake up 50 years later knowing the Truth —that fear and discomfort were the way, and there is no turning back the unforgiving hands of time.

-Tyrell