I Wish I Was Harriet the Spy
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What's Your Obsession?
I was once very obsessed with taking photographs
At the behest of my book editor, I’m reading Harriet the Spy. I’m surprised I’ve never read it before, and delighted to have Harriet’s company during these endless pandemic days/daze. (Is it strange that living in quarantine doesn’t feel strange anymore? How quickly we adapt…)
What I love about Harriet is her unabated passion. I don’t mean that to sound corny, but she is truly obsessed with being a spy. The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is reach for her spy notebook and record her thoughts. Throughout the day, she keeps her notebook close at hand and frequently stops whatever she’s doing to jot down observations. She is vigorously single-minded in her pursuit of a lifelong career in spying, and she doesn’t let anything—even a stolen notebook or angry friends—get in her way.
For Harriet, she is clear in her goal: she wants to be a spy and everything she does is focused on that target. I envy her dogged dedication because I can’t say that there’s anything that consumes me the way that Harriet’s spy obsession consumes her—except for my relationship to my devices.
For myself and many others, what’s the one thing we reach for first thing in the morning and a million times throughout the day? Where does our mind wander in those in-between moments? So often, my mind wanders into the black hole of social media—how many likes has my Facebook video received? Did so-and-so respond to the meme I sent her via WhatsApp? Has Beyoncé posted anything in the half hour since I last checked her Instagram?
Our culture is being seized by an obsession with our devices, and it makes me wonder—what is the larger purpose of this pursuit? What other obsessions are falling to the wayside as a result?
In the last decade or so, smartphones have become part of our mental, emotional and social landscape. We barely question their presence in our lives, but we’d likely be horrified if we were to add up the time we spend on these devices. Like Harriet with her spy notebook, smartphones have become a ubiquitous accessory in our lives. And with so much of our brain energy being consumed on these devices, it’s only normal to assume that we have less brain energy available for other explorations.
If we were to approach our obsessions more mindfully, what would emerge? What would we actually be obsessed with if we didn’t have the easy distractions of TikTok and Netflix to fall prey to?
I think we have come to believe that obsessions like Harriet’s are for children, and that adults are too grown-up for such things. We are much too busy and serious and important to engage in such frivolous behavior. And yet, our relationship to our devices show us that we are just as capable of obsessions are children are.
Perhaps it’s a skill that we need to re-learn as adults—and for that, I propose an exercise by the cartoonist and art educator, Lynda Barry. It’s a daily practice that will give you the opportunity to take note of what interests you. Check it out below (and also this video about silencing your inner critic and drawing like a child)!
And this week, think about an obsession you’d be happy to adopt. The pandemic is a great time to explore our wildest fascinations. Perhaps it’s knitting, drawing, or like Harriet, writing furiously. Perhaps you already have an obsession that dominates your waking (and dreaming) thoughts. Reply to this email and tell me about it!
Tip of the Week
Taken from Lynda Barry's Syllabus
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