Franco (No) Phone: Ignoring the Itch to Create When Traveling

You and I both know how important micro-moments are. I’m making an entire career out of them. But, when Content is King, how am I supposed to make time for myself?

As I stepped foot onto French terrain for the first time, I interlocked fingers with my phone. Ready to capture mon premier ?Bonjour!?

What really happened??

I thought to myself I’m feeling all this creativity. I have two options:?

1. Make a cute TikTok.
2. Bottle it up for when I get home.?

I chose the latter, ignoring the itch to create.

Of course I took photos, I’m not a menace. But instead of experiencing something and habitually hitting record, I became conscious of my creativity. To allow myself to have you had to be there moments vs. micro moments.?

And so, here I am, opening that (probably Champagne) bottle I kept closed, to share the Paris shot list I could have vlogged.

1. Kids playing soccer in the concrete culdesac by Jardin du Luxembourg
2. Pulling up the tiny lever to unlock the metro door?
3. Salt, pepper, mustard, and an ashtray on a table
4. A Parisian woman offering a stranger un fumée
5. Wicker chairs lined up neatly on the street
6. Adidas Stan Smith sneakers in Cloud White/Green and Zara bags….literally everywhere
7. Empty wine bottles spewing out of recycling bins in Versailles
8. The American professor at Café de Flore, who said his wife was cured of breast cancer for just 27€
9. Boo-boo-bee-doo-boo announcement jingle in the metro station
10. A woman snacking on the baguette poking out of her purse

In the words of Sacha Guiltry, “Being a Parisian is not being born in Paris, but to be reborn there.”?

Aside from Miss Emily (thanks, girl), I’m confident Sacha did not mean this in the context of cell phones or social media.

So, here’s to forgetting the minor details I didn’t get on camera.?

To my next trip.?

And to the content I won’t create.