Are you passionate about something? Do you know something inside out where others barely give it a glance?

As a schoolboy, I thought I was into birds—until my dad and I stayed with some family friends who were truly into birding.

They had a powerful telescope trained on the birds at the feeder in their garden. They had crystal-clear binoculars we used on a bird walk, which showed me birds clearer and closer than I'd ever seen. They knew what birds to look for and had tape recordings of specific bird calls that brought them to nearby bushes. They talked us through trips they'd been around the world to spot rare and remarkable birds.

Spending time with them changed how I saw birds forever. It was impossible to be around them and not start to love birds.

There are classic disciplines for geekiness: science, maths, computers, birdwatching, plane spotting, model trains.

But over the years, I've seen people geek out about so much more: gardening, plants, pottery, DJ'ing, Pokemon, sport, skiing, cycling, endurance, beekeeping, writing, business, spreadsheets, coding, magic tricks, sailing, a musical instrument, nightclubs, restaurants, personal development, gaming, crypto, cooking, travel, film, thrillers, local history, deals, football boots, coaching, shopping, clothes, cars, building, cameras, art, museums, relationships, pets, insects, decorating, and on and on.

If you don't pay close attention to Premier League football, it might be boring, but if you follow every detail, it can be engrossing. I didn't think much of textiles, but I found it fascinating after spending an afternoon weaving in Laos.

One of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing is Take Notice. Being a geek is noticing everything about something. It can also Connect you with others and keep you Learning—two more of the five.

The word geek derives from a word meaning fool or freak as if it's foolish to devote so much attention and time to one area. But the truth is, as the physicist Richard Feynman says: "Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough."

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

Some of us had "publicly being a geek about something" trained out of us at school. The challenges of trying to fit in, to look cool, to make ourselves less vulnerable, to conform to social stereotypes (pretty, sporty, funny...), and to avoid snarky comments. As I've gotten older and more confident in myself, it's easier to unashamedly be a geek about something. I still meet with sarcasm and raised eyebrows at times, but now I'm comfortable enough to brush it off (most of the time). I love this quote from Simon Pegg about it:

"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."

Let's embrace our inner geeks. Dive deep into what fascinates you.

Try not to dismiss others' passions until you've had a go at getting into depth yourself. Their joy could be just the same that you feel with something else.

Everyone's a geek about something. And that's wonderful.

This is a revised and expanded version of my original sketch, which had just a few passions. I've thought about it so much since I first heard the phrase—I couldn't remember where—that I thought it needed an update. And we had a blast talking about this on the podcast.

When putting together a draft of a Sketchplanations book, this was my first title idea (preview).

Related Ideas to Everyone's a Geek About Something

The writer's in the writing. The artist's in the art.

Everyone's a Geek About Something — Revised and Expanded

A phone zombie is a regular pedestrian turned zombie walker because they’re busy staring at their phone.

Sometimes it’s hard not to be a phone zombie—whether it’s a notification about where you’re about to meet, a message about something you just finished at work, texting to say you’re on your way home, a sudden thought to look something up, reading a weekly newsletter, or maybe it’s just switching the podcast. On a long, quiet street on my commute, I’ve also read a book while walking. There are so many reasons why it’s easy to turn into a phone zombie walking unthinkingly down the street.

Once, while waiting for a crossing light to change and checking train times on my phone, I noticed the people around me starting to cross. Taking my cue, I began to walk too, only realising a few steps later, with a car bearing down on me, that the light hadn’t changed to signal it was ok to cross. I’ve also seen people walk into cyclists, a near miss with a bus driving close to the curb, and someone tripping and falling. Take care, and don’t let it be you!

In a lovely BBC radio episode on skeumorphs, novelist Will Self described what he calls the zombie walk:

"You see people doing what I call the zombie walk, which is reading their phone, particularly when it's dark, and you see the uplight on their slightly vacant faces as they stumble through the environment. Because they're no longer really aware of the environment around them; they're semi-virtual at that point."

Phone zombies are also known as smartphone zombies, smombie for short, or zombie pedestrians.

You can get a printed gift of phone zombies, but as zombies aren't that nice to look at, I also made a friendlier version of phone zombies.

Halfalogue: hearing half a phone conversation

Phone zombie

Anchors and tugboats. One holds you back, and one pulls you forward.

Negativity can act like an anchor holding you back, narrowing your focus and restricting your potential.

By contrast, positivity acts like a tugboat pulling you forward. It's expansive. It opens us up to opportunity, gratitude or joy.

I heard this analogy from sports psychologist Justin Ross. It's a curious thing, he points out, that we don't actively learn how we should talk to ourselves; it just happens. If you're out running and things get tough, or if you're having a hard time at work or as a parent, our self-talk starts about how things are going and how we got here. But rarely do we consciously think about how we should talk to ourselves.

To get to positivity from a place of negativity, Justin says, the first step is awareness and noticing the negativity anchoring us down. Only then can we think about transforming the negative thoughts into positive ones and starting to feel the pull of the tugboat.

This example is sports psychology, but it applies throughout our lives.

Justin discusses this from 29:40 in the Löw Tide Boyz podcast episode 193.

Anchors and tugboats

Kintsugi is the repair of a ceramic item, perhaps a bowl or vase, with a bright gold seam. Like wabi sabi, kintsugi reflects a view that wear and use of an object adds value rather than detracts. Rather than try to hide the past damage and the repair instead it is celebrated and enhanced. A bowl repaired with kintsugi might be seen as more valuable than one that had never been broken.

An ebook might reload the same every time. A book, instead, accumulates its previous use in its pages and appearance — the slight bend in the pages, discoloration from fingerprints or sunlight, creases in the spine at frequently visited pages, a pencil mark here and there. The book itself hints at the story of its own life. A well-thumbed secondhand book can be a beautiful thing.

You may have noticed some modern kintsugi in Kylo Ren's helmet.

Kintsugi

While I sometimes find myself drinking coffee and reading a book with a little background music, the basic idea of this Zen proverb seems sound. Stay in the moment. Don't try to do things at the same time. Focus on what you're doing. Leave the phone in the other room. Avoid continuous partial attention.

This proverb has stuck with me since I first came across it in a NYT article from Michael Pollan in 2009, no longer available online. He later published a summary of much of his food wisdom in his simple, approachable book: Food Rules. Several of them I realised I'd covered in some form here as sketches:

If it's not good enough for bugs, it's not good enough for you

Sketch in the ligne claire art style of Tintin.

When drinking tea, just drink tea

Wabi sabi is a beautiful Japanese idea and worldview of appreciating the small traits of imperfection, the changes in things as they age, and that nothing is wholly complete. It might be appreciating the unique unevenness in a handmade bowl, the cracks and weathering of wood as it is grows old, or the softened and coloured pages of an old book.

It's a lovely frame of mind that helps us see the beauty in things that aren't perfect and brand new. As a society, it's probably something we could do with more of.

The simple phrasing of nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect is from Wabi Sabi Simple by Richard Powell.

Wabi sabi

Some simple wisdom from Kurt Vonnegut: notice when you’re happy.

“My uncle Alex Vonnegut, a Harvard-educated life insurance salesman who lived at 5033 North Pennsylvania Street, taught me something very important.

He said that when things were really going well, we should be sure to NOTICE it. He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery; or fishing, and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door.

Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is”

"So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”

Notice when you're happy: If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is

The five ways to wellbeing are five simple, evidence-based ways to improve mental capital and mental wellbeing throughout life. 

Developed by the New Economics Foundation, the 5 ways to wellbeing are:

With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you. 

Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun. 

Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

What Works Wellbeing has a neat post on how the UK compares to other European countries on the 5 ways to wellbeing and how they are affected by age, gender and other factors: 5 ways to wellbeing in the UK.

Curious? Evidence for the 5 ways from the New Economics Foundation (pdf).

Also, in doing this sketch, it’s quite clear that parks are awesome for wellbeing.

If money doesn't make you happy, you're not spending it right

5 Ways to Wellbeing

Continuous partial attention describes the state many of us find ourselves in as we try to stay connected to all the different areas of life that are now possible — as a result, we pay only partial attention to anything.

The accompanying stress or tension and, sometimes, decrease in relationship quality may contribute towards our increasing desire and awareness for the opposite: the wholly disconnected times of meditation, yoga, forest bathing, time in the outdoors (the 3-day effect), and other activities that allow us to give our full engaged attention for our wellbeing once more.

Continuous partial attention was coined by Linda Stone.

Continuous partial attention

The 3-day effect is the name give to what happens to us after being out in Nature for 3 days or more. Something about it resets us and improves our mood, our wellbeing, and how well our brain is working.

Observed by river rafting guide Ken Sanders who used to see a marked change in the groups he led on the 3rd day of being out on the river, it’s known as the 3-day effect. Since then, David Strayer and his group at the University of Utah have conducted studies that measured a real change in our calmness and even our creative problem-solving after 3 or more days in Nature.

“I think it takes the first two days and nights to wash away whatever veneer of civilization you have brought with you. The new reality begins on that third day.”

More about the 3 day effect at National Geograhic: This is your brain on Nature and REI: The Nature Fix.

No doubt similar things at work to the magic of forest bathing.

The 3-day effect

Young children have this wonderful and at times incredibly frustrating ability to completely ignore the past, even moments ago, and pay no heed whatsoever to the future. They're a fabulous lesson in living in the present. That they were miserable just now when someone took what they were playing with — doesn't matter any more. That playing in the puddle for longer means you'll miss the bus, and be late for lunch with friends — doesn't matter. All that matters is now.

I have a theory that as we grow older our circle of attention expands.

Mindfulness sketches