Treasure Hunting

What we’re actually searching for – plus a few (more creative, less blah) ways to find it.

Welcome (or welcome back!) to Multifaceted. I’m Jess Barker, here exploring what it means to find direction and fulfillment in a multi-passionate creative life. ✨

Digital collage, feat. a snapshot of some spring loveliness from earlier this month.

Last Saturday, our library held its massive children’s book sale.

I managed to get there early, before it got too crazy. Because, yeah, it gets crazy.

Picture five rows of folding tables – each row stretching about a full city block – topped with banker’s boxes end to end, absolutely stuffed to the brim with books. Hardcovers and board books for $1, paperbacks for 50¢. That means taking home 20 books for the price of one!

And it’s not all tatty bindings; most books are gently used – and some are brand new. Like the lift-a-flap books with flaps that’ve never once been opened.

For a book-obsessed family, it’s the ultimate dopamine rush. I’d been looking forward to it for months because it’s just that good.

The hunt, the perfect find, the insane deal – the novelty.

The surprise after sifting through lots of stuff to discover an unexpected gem. (A favorite find this time was The Tiger Who Came To Tea, which my daughter instantly loved.)

To say it’s a thrill might be an understatement.

The morning after the book sale, I woke up and, for the first time in a while, didn’t have any firm plans.

Hmmm, I thought. What would I most like to do today?

Definitely get some fresh air… and then… maybe I could pop into a few shops and see if I find any neat little surprises?

… Wait, what??

I had JUST fulfilled my long-awaited treasure-hunting dream – and there I was, the next day, wanting more?

To make matters worse, I noticed myself daydreaming about perusing piles of spring loveliness in the shops. With the scenery outside still limited to browns and grays, I craved color. And yet, after the library book sale, I went to see a ballet! Sleeping Beauty. It doesn’t get more sparkly-spring-floral-tulle loveliness than that.

What’s wrong with me? I thought. I JUST got to enjoy all that I now crave. I had the most delicious day yesterday – isn’t that enough?

Now, I don’t think there’s inherently anything wrong with wanting to go shopping on the weekend. But waking up and immediately thinking about HomeGoods that day made me feel a little gross and greedy.

Unfortunately, this is not just a “me” problem. Most of us run into this sort of thing – because we’re wired that way.

Our brains reward novelty, and so we chase after it. We eagerly anticipate it, quickly gobble it up, and immediately crave it again.

To fill the void with something new, we follow the siren call – whether that comes in the form of shopping, social media scrolling, sports-watching, new-show streaming, or some other source of the empty calories of life.

There’s a difference between consuming these things intentionally versus mindlessly. We can feel it.

Even when we don’t specifically need or want anything, we let ourselves spend precious hours sifting through piles of stuff – junk, even – hoping we’ll discover novelty.

When we do find it, the pleasure centers in our brains light up. We feel incredible. We praise ourselves for being so clever for making our latest discoveries. And then we go back for more.

Multi-passionate people will recognize how this tendency crosses over into our interest areas. Every new idea, every activity we haven’t tried – they all promise novelty. Ooh, I could do mosaics! Look, there’s a class on medieval calligraphy! And we chase after the shiny new thing, even if it means leaving unfinished passion projects in the dust.

As part of our basic human survival instincts, we’re designed to be curious. Our nervous systems reward us with all that feel-good juice when we step out into the unknown. Why? Because doing so means we can find and solve novel problems, thereby boosting our chances of making it as a species.

I’m guessing it’d be pretty hard to rewire our brains to not crave novelty. But we can certainly redirect our energy toward activities that don’t involve mindless consumption.

One obvious solution might be to “try something new.” For creatives, that might involve trying a new art form or skill.

However, there’s a problem with that approach: Although the process may feel new and novel to us, the outcome will fall short of our expectations.

Snagging an amazing deal on Facebook Marketplace is an all-around win: the treasure hunt yielded a cool discovery, plus we feel good about the end result. But trying to draw a horse in charcoal for the first time? That will only ever end in a laughable, leggy picture that looks like a child drew it.

Creating as a beginner is a humbling experience. Not for the faint of heart. And probably not what we need when we’re in the mood for a light, relaxed Sunday morning.

Maybe what we need instead is a list of simple activities that promise novelty while also promising we’ll end up with something good. (Or at least, something not totally horse-drawing-awful.)

Ideally, these would be creative or creative-adjacent activities – meaning they allow us to contribute to our creative projects somehow, even in a tangential or inspo-gathering way. This way, when we feel the urge to consume something just for the sake of novelty, we can turn to an activity that’s more aligned with how we want to live our creative lives.

I brainstormed a few ideas that I think could work for me. These are activities that fit my criteria:

• I think I’d genuinely enjoy them.

• They call for a pretty low or passive level of engagement, which is good for when I need a bit of a break.

• They’d provide some aesthetic novelty.

• They don’t require spending money.

• They don’t involve screen time.

The ideas below are tailored to my personal interests, but let me know if any of these sound fun to you. If you can think of other ideas that fit with your creative practice, share in the comments to inspire the rest of us!

Alright, here goes. Instead of hitting HomeGoods (and leaving sort of unsatisfied, anyway), I could:

Source collage material

Flipping through magazines to find interesting scraps definitely has a treasure hunt feel to it. Plus, it would yield new fodder for my creative work.

Peruse library bookshelves

You already know I’m obsessed with the library, but it’s been a while since I’ve just wandered the aisles to see what’s new. There are so many eye-catching covers out there, and I’m sure it would be fun to skim books I might not normally pick up.

Go for a walk with a sketchbook and a plan

I sometimes bring my sketchbook along, thinking I’ll do a drawing if I see something interesting. But I’d like to try setting an intention to find things to draw. I could even make a scavenger hunt checklist to see how many found objects I can “collect” via sketches.

Read a fast-paced novel

The last novel I checked out from the library had too slow of a pace to hold my interest. But when I have a page-turner in my hands, I can barely think about anything else, much less shopping or social media! So, maybe I just need a story that can sweep me away to a new world and keep me there for a while. A novel novel, you might say. 🙃

Shop my own closet – AKA play dress up

Personal style is one of those things where I’ll suddenly go into hyper-focus mode, revamp my wardrobe with new outfit formulas, then coast along – contributing virtually zero creative energy until it’s time for another refresh. With the changing of the seasons, it’d feel both creative and useful to dig out some spring clothes I haven’t seen in a while and play around with potential ways to style them, outside of my go-to formulas.

Flip through one of my coffee table books

Yep, we’re back to books again! I have a pretty big collection of hefty, gorgeously illustrated titles – many of which are about fashion and design history – that I don’t regularly crack open. I also have several museum exhibition books that I haven’t read closely yet. They all feel so luxurious to flip through. I’m sure I’d discover lots of new and inspiring tidbits in their pages.

Do spring cleaning indoors or out in the garden

This is a guaranteed way to get a fresh look in or around the house. I’ve been doing quite a bit of spring cleaning recently, but I’m just now realizing this also meets the novelty craving. There’s something about tidying up a space that makes me feel like I just walked into a fancy new Airbnb.

I’ll add a little reminder (to me, and to you if you end up making a similar list for yourself): This is NOT meant to be a To-Do list.

It’s more of a Could-Do list.

It’s something to turn to on those days when we need a little novelty – but we want to stop ourselves from spending money, accumulating screen time, or getting overwhelmed by trying a new challenge in our downtime.

Because, sometimes, doing less is doing more.

Your turn!

What activities would you add to your own list?

Do you have any recommendations for good eye-candy books or page-turners I should check out?

Let me know!