One advice for my son

I came across a list on my desktop stickie that contained all the things I wanted to write about, which is great because lately it felt like nothing was happening in my head other than reading academic articles on brownfield regeneration! One of the topic was to write down one advice I’d give my son with ‘once-a-month’ in brackets behind it (I can only assume that at the time of list making that I was confident that there was that many I have accumulated already!). 

So here goes, with some caution but lots of passion. One advice I’d give my son, based on what I know now (May 2013) and what I’ve learnt so far in my few years of living and much fewer months of being a mum: Travel. Cliched, I know, but there’s a twist. Travel with more understanding. Ok, not exactly a moment of enlightenment, however still rings true.

I looked over some photos of my past travels which, although not many or far, reminded me of the amazing places I have been to and the things I’ve seen. It also made me realise how I hardly remembered the locations, names, meanings of these place, despite the hundred of digital photos to prove my presence.

I’m sure the impressions that you gather and soak in from travelling isn’t always tangible and/or even understandable at the given time. I only now realise the Lama Temple my husband and I visited with my little sister in Beijing during my summer of pregnancy has had a profound effect on me. I wouldn’t have guessed at the time how much walking down the streets of New York and Chicago would in an indirect way shape my appreciation of architecture. Or how looking back on my trip to Turkey with girlfriends from school, I only now understand how important it is to just enjoy the moment and not worry about anything else. Although it never really bothered me much before (it’s all about the experience, right?!) who knows what my thoughts were at that given time? How interesting it would be to read it now? Better yet, to revisit and enjoy the different opinions and impressions the second time round.

However, in spite of not managing to be a constant writer of my thoughts and travels, I currently have a stack of notes from various trips and travels written on scraps of paper, which I never got round to writing up. So there’s always been that urge to write about travels, just not the discipline. Which brings me to my advice for my son. Travel and travel more, but more importantly understand where you’re going, why you’re going. The simplest way may be writing but a more creative and exciting thing you can do is sketching, something I only recently discovered and teaching myself to do because it will make you spend a little bit longer beside the place you're visiting, help you remember better and recall your experiences, and make a lovely souvenir book that beats any mug.

Francis D.K. Ching, introduced to me by my Urban Design module tutor-inspired me to sketch and learn how to draw again (first tip is to just draw like a child draws, with no inhibitions)

"Drawing stimulates the mind to think and can make visible those aspects which cannot be seen by the naked eye or captured on film by a camera" F.D.K. Ching

I now only wish that I had made the effort to write more about and sketch the places I visited along with why I thought it was good to visit at the time-I think it says a lot about your then state of mind. Another reason to visit a stationery shop and let the sketch books, notepads, watercolours and pencils lift the mood-and one day it'll be my sketch with a caption!