Hello friend. I’m Pete Carr and welcome (queue lasers) to my newsletter. 

Each week I talk about mental health, show some photos from my travels, pre-lockdown as I’m sure you’re not interested in the commute from bedroom to kitchen, and talk about geeky things. In a way this is a diary I’m enjoying sharing with you fine folk. It helps me to process mental health issues by working through them as I write and it is good to share and be open about them. 

There is no paid subscription to this newsletter but there is a tip jar. My ko-fi tip jar is open for tips if you have any spare cash and would like to buy me a beer. Hazy IPA ta. 

I’ve been trying a new thing on Instagram this week. Twitter is becoming a place where everyone is shouting how bad the world is because its pretty bad right now. So I’m trying to spend more time on Instagram. I start the day with a little “Hello” message and some video of bird song with the little bit of nature I have to hand. It’s nothing amazing but I hope it’s something nice in your Instagram story timeline doodle. 

photos

London. A few years ago. I miss going down there for a wander. 

video

A book review of ‘New York Sleeps’ by Christopher Thomas

Buy the book on Amazon

mental health

I’ve been trying something new this week. It’s something I’ve been meaning to sort for years now but because my work hours are totally random it has been hard to setup. What I’m doing is building a schedule. A proper one. While I’m at home and there’s nothing to do outside the house I can properly plan my day. I know exactly what is going on. So far I’ve only got 2 days roughly planned. Thursday is make and edit video. Friday is newsletter. 

I put everything in the calendar. Lunch. Tea. Exercise. The works. I’m trying to build a system so that future me doesn’t have to think. He just gets up and follows the plan. In theory things will actually get done. I’ve been trying to do so many things for so many years that I’ve never started anything. Now I have full control over my world and I’m taking full advantage of that. 

This is actually helping with mental health issues. There’s no confusion about what I should be doing. I already decided. Just get it done. It’s providing clarity and focus to my day. If I allow myself 2 hours to do something I need to have it done because I’ve allowed myself 1 hour after that for another task that needs to be done. It reminds me of being at school to some degree. 

I have a to do app, Things, that I throw a lot in to but those are just tasks. This system basically tells me what I must do and how long I have to do it. It needs to be done at that specific time so I can do the next thing. As I slowly fill the week up with tasks I can see how it looks on a planner view and see where I can fit in things. Could I squeeze in an hour of archive sorting? Yes I can. It’s amazing. 

It really is bring me clarity. So often I sit down at my desk and start something, then get distracted, then do another thing and by the end of the day I may have got fragments of something done or I’ve spent the entire day doing something I didn’t really need to get sorted but have done non-the-less. I’m great at focusing on one task and powering through but I’m not great at doing something simple for 1 hour and then moving on to another task. This system is helping me properly plan things like “email new clients” or “sort archives”. These are huge epic tasks that will never be ticked off a to-do list but I can schedule an hour to chip away at them. 

This is my new thing. Making decisions now to hopefully make the future easier to navigate because the future is a potential dumpster fire with teeth and knives. 

Take care all. Remember to talk.

• Mind | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems

• CALM Homepage - Campaign Against Living Miserably | CALM, the campaign against living miserably, is a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide, the biggest single killer of men aged 20-45 in the UK

• Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen

print sale

A few weeks ago I was selected to be part of an online exhibition called ‘Isolation Nation’ by my friends at Dorothy. I submitted a series of photographs taken in Iceland looking at the way man has an effect on the landscape there. Good news! You can now buy prints. 

There’s work there by other artists too so don’t just buy mine. But please do buy mine :)  Share the link around as I’m sure people will be interested in the work on offer. 

beam out

• Evolution of Star Trek Series Music Theme (1966-2020) - YouTube

• Photographer Ragnar Axelsson photographed the desolation of the Iceland Ring Road during winter and the covid-19 pandemic - The Washington Post

• Space Invaders | Design Icons - YouTube

• Atget’s Paris, 100 Years Later - The New York Times

• Is Animal Crossing: New Horizons the answer to renewing our creative energy?

• The National Portrait Gallery wants your photos of the Covid-19 emergency

• Francois Prost returns, photographing Venice and its worldwide doppelgängers

end

“Be bold. Be brave. Be courageous. Black alert.”  Christopher Pike, Captain USS Discovery.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. I’ll be back. Feel free to subscribe or send to a friend.

petes outmic drop

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FYI my ko-fi tip jar thing is open for tips if you have any spare cash and would like to buy me a beer. Hazy IPA ta.