As Irene Smit and Astrid van der Hulst sat in the middle of a teeming Javits Center for BookExpo America, a trade fair swarming with industry leaders, librarians and book buyers, the two Dutch authors remained calm and self-possessed as they signed piles of their books for fans.
Being present is their specialty, and they’ve built a successful media business out of it. Van der Hulst and Smit are the creators of the popular magazine Flow, which originated in their native Netherlands and is now an expanded imprint of books and other products at Workman Publishing in the U.S.
They have attracted a global following of fans who are drawn to Flow’s message of mindfulness and its unique offering of “goodies” — paper crafts and activities attached to the pages of its books and magazines that invite readers to create and express themselves.
The newest Flow book, “Creativity Takes Courage,” takes this a step further and invites readers to explore their creativity through activities such as drawing and setting out to complete small, daily artistic projects.
Crucially, they argue, creativity thrives when we take time to go offline and immerse ourselves in our environments at the moment. Their message resonates at a time when we find ourselves increasingly glued to our smartphone screens tracking social media, even to the detriment of our mental health and work performance.
“Being creative is such an easy way to get out of your head,” Smit told MarketWatch. “We both found when you do something with your hands, it gives you so much peace in your mind and it helps you relax.”
Smit says when she and Van der Hust first explored the idea to create a magazine, she was stressed and worried that they would fail.
“I always thought, I can’t do it,” she said. “We learned though it’s not the result that counts but the process. We said, let’s try to bring this lesson to the reader. Try to create, try to draw, try to crochet.”
Van der Hulst added, “It’s very mindful that you do those things. It stops your fussing in your head because you have to focus on something else. It’s also fun.”
The women are the co-authors of the Flow books “Everything Grows With Love,” “A Book That Takes Its Time” and “50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life.” Natives of Haarlem, they spoke to MarketWatch while promoting “Creativity Takes Courage” in New York.
MarketWatch: There’s an important section in your new book on the importance of going offline — off your phone and computer. What are the benefits of this?
Van der Hulst: You are more focused on the now. When you’re online, it’s very tricky. It makes you go to new sites, it also affects what you think and what you have to do at that time. It’s taking you away from the now. The benefit of going offline is it gives you more “me” time and gives you a better connection with yourself and your environment. Also, I think a lot of online things are about what other people are thinking of you because you’re showing other people what you’re doing. From time to time it’s helpful to give you rest in your mind.
‘Why are we spending so much time on things that don’t give us warm feelings or something you want to think about when you’re dying?’ — Irene Smit, co-author of ‘Creativity Takes Courage’MW: What about using Facebook FB, +0.83% or Twitter TWTR, +2.35% , in this age of social media?
Smit: When we started the magazine, there was no social media in 2008. We were more mindful and we felt more peaceful with our lives. Then social media came. At first we thought, oh this is great, being on Instagram all the time and connecting with people all over the world. But we also felt it absorbed us so much.
We had an article in one of our last issues of the magazine from someone who took a detox from Facebook. She stopped it for half a year. In this article, this writer said, ‘I don’t have a single, special memory about all this time I have spent on Facebook. I liked things, I read things. It took about one hour a day. But there’s nothing that stood out as a memory or special moment for the rest of my life.’
That opened our eyes. Why are we spending so much time on things that don’t give us warm feelings or something you want to think about when you’re dying?
Van der Hulst: It’s not that we’re anti-social media because Instagram FB, +0.83% has also brought us a lot. Connecting with creative people worldwide is very nice and there’s a friendly community. I think you have to make choices where you spend your time.
I once had a Sunday— it was not a very special Sunday, but it was a so-so-Sunday. In the end I was scrolling through Instagram and one of the people was having lunch outside in the woods, and another one went to a festival, and another one had a special event with family.
I was totally happy with my Sunday, but because I saw all those social media [posts], my feeling changed. For me, that was a turning point and eye-opener, that you have to stick by yourself.
Smit: I try to be more aware of how I feel. When I’m on Facebook or Instagram, I feel tired afterward. But when I am reading for an hour, I feel so much more energized and peaceful.
Van der Hulst: A lot of mornings I used to wake up and just look at my phone. I thought, ‘Why am I doing this, paying attention to other people’s lives instead of listening to the birds outside? Listening to the noises in the house, or people waking up? Why am I not here in the moment but in someone else’s life?’
MW: In some professions, people are encouraged or required to be active on social media. It can be difficult to limit oneself.
Smit: I think it’s better to get social media off your phone and do it during work hours on your computer. When you check Instagram or Facebook on your computer during work hours, it feels better than when you do it all night long or on the weekends. So we tell our freelancers they don’t have to check social media all the time. It’s an easy line you can give yourself, like okay, after 6 p.m. or 8 p.m., I just have to stop looking at all these things.
“Creativity Takes Courage” will be released in August 2018 by Workman Publishing.
(This interview was edited for style and space.)
