Curate Your Life
By Charlie Mitchell
I love art galleries. I’ve been to galleries, large and small, local and international. Some art galleries stand out in my mind because the art drew me into an awe-inspiring experience.
There have been other times, when the work is just ok. Or you could tell they were trying to be provocative but it didn’t quite work. In those galleries no matter the size, I find myself getting bored and looking for the exit. If It’s disappointing, I get critical and make fun of the work displayed.
I think what makes or breaks a great art show is a skilled curator. A curator is one who oversees the art gallery. There are works of art acquired by the gallery or museum, and it’s the curator’s job to display the artwork in the best possible way.
They are tasked with making sure the art ca speak for itself and has the most impact on the art consumer. If we were to go into the storeroom of a curator, there might be masterpieces tucked away while lesser known works get the shine they deserve. Or there may be weaker works tucked away that would ruin the reputation of the artist and the curator, so the curator works to make the artist and the art shine.
Curating is a skill. It is a skill I think we all need to learn so that we put our attention on what’s most important and beautiful while storing what is not worthy of our energy.
Here are three areas that we need to curate.
1. Curate Your Emotions
Depending on the day or the circumstances we may wake up anxious about a big project or become angry because of an unproductive coworker. In moments that are beyond your control, you must take control of your emotions. Indeed, fear, anxiety, and anger may be perfectly reasonable emotions, but they don’t have to color the entirety of our days or weeks.
As curators, we can reinterpret situations to see opportunities. We channel our flow of emotions in a day not to be controlled by them but to experience the fullness of life in each moment.
2. Curate Your Relationships
You come home from work, and the house is a wreck. You’ve spent the entire day with the kids, and your husband is consumed with Sports Center. You’re excited to eat leftovers from that excellent Thai restaurant, and your roommate ate all the leftovers and didn’t have the dignity to ask. In these moments, we can be tempted to lash out, have a pity party, or seethe in bitterness.
As curators, we bring order from chaos.
We showcase beauty where others see spilled paint. Curate your relationships by creating space to talk. Go above and beyond to show love, kindness and serve those closest to you. In turn, we begin to see that our relationships look different when we approach them from a different angle.
3. Curate Your Social Media
This is the real test of life curation. Facebook and Instagram algorithms curate your newsfeed based on what you are willing to engage. I recently had a conversation with a friend who said, “All I see is negativity on Facebook.” I replied, “That’s because they know you’ll respond and argue in the posts.” Social media platforms don’t care about your mental health and if you are making strides in your life. They carefully craft a newsfeed that will keep you locked to your computer or phone screen.
We don’t need to be a slave to what someone else wants to give us.
If you have someone you follow in social media that is a constant source of social poison, swiftly unfollow them. Rather than feeding the trolls, like, share and comment on things that are positive. That may sound trivial, but it will change the tone of your feed. Social media curation at a meta level would be to only interact with social media in ways that are productive to you and your personal goals and intentions, not just out of habit.
It’s time to take a step back as the designer and curator of your life. Survey the content that is pouring in, and put on display the beautiful and the good. We don’t have to be controlled by outside circumstances of self-defeating beliefs. We can highlight the hopeful, helpful, and healthy.
