Savour

On ego, being humbled, and saving our society

FYI: This is a follow-up to my last post. I encourage you to read that first.

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A word I have been pondering lately is savour. I don’t know why or where I heard it that it has had such a big impact on me, but several times a day, the word ‘savour’ comes to mind. As silly as it might sound, it’s made me think about all sorts of things, big and small - all the moments I miss because I’m not paying attention, as well as all the things I do notice that others don’t, the lovely moments I feel privy to that others miss out on.

I suppose one thing I savour is being out in nature, especially solo. I like returning to my favourite places - the swamp, the lake, the forest - and being humbled once again, realizing for the umpteenth time that I am so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, both in the ecosystem of nature and the ecosystem of life.

There’s no denying that social media plays a huge part in us being unable (or unwilling) to savour. All the swipe, swipe, scroll, scroll leaves us unable to focus on any one thing for long, let alone appreciate its beauty. I often wonder what social media is doing to the younger generations; that makes me sound incredibly old, but the truth is that I’m a “’97 baby” - as someone once referred to me as - and I have, to some extent, witnessed the descent of society’s ability to savour with the uptake and upward trajectory of social media.

I consider myself fortunate because I think it’s a privilege to somewhat remember life before social media. I wasn’t on Instagram in it’s heyday and I only got Facebook in my early twenties, so obviously I am chronically late in joining the party (or in this case, the platform). Even now I see posts saying that Substack has had it’s day, and I am reminded that I am, once again, late to the party.

All that is to say I think I am slightly better at savouring because I do not experience the pull of social media that many people do. Don’t get me wrong, I can spend hours scrolling what little I can see of Instagram and Facebook without an account (and don’t even get me started on Substack Notes), but what I see around me is an addiction of seemingly epidemic proportions. This is doing nothing for our ability to savour. As Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Lauren Daigle pointed out in her song ‘Ego’:

‘the stories we share are picture-perfect in every frame...’

Scrolling through photos of picture-perfect lives is only harming our ability to notice and savour our own lives and the moments they’re made up of, whether exciting, mundane, or neutral. Just this morning I read a post from someone temporarily living in Alaska, and I was in awe of the photos they included. Then I remembered that I have photos in my phone that look almost exactly the same, even though I live a very long way from Alaska! I am trying to be more mindful to savour the beauty around me, but as this morning goes to show, it’s hard to notice - let alone savour - your environment when you’re scrolling.

I want to create content that others don’t just consume, but savour. I want people to pause and mull over my words. As Marloes wrote here: “I want to serve complete meals instead of snacks.” I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad for scrolling - we all do it to some extent. But if you find yourself constantly flicking through posts or opening a post and then quickly scrolling through it to ‘get the gist of it’, without really understanding what the post is about, then ask yourself if you’re really getting any value from such quickfire consumption. I am trying to become more intentional about savouring other people’s work by asking myself (before I even open a post): ‘do I have the time to sit and linger with this?’ If the answer is no, I scroll right past.

In terms of nature, I enjoy immersive and sensory-friendly environments such as forests, mountains and lakes because it is in immersive environments such as these that I feel I can better savour the moment. Maybe it is something to do with my neurodivergence, some kind of heightened sensitivity (in a good way) to the natural world, but whatever the reason, in taking the time to savour I notice more, therefore I am more appreciative, and through that I am humbled. In the words of Lauren Daigle’s song ‘Ego’:

Can we change what we’ve become?

Can we save our society?

If there’s a way, if there’s a door…

It’s humility

I couldn't agree more.

Til next time,

J x

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I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to share with a friend & subscribe to receive future posts by email. You can read more on the topic of savouring here, here and here. See you next time!