Last month, I sent out my 24th newsletter. It didn’t occur to me until after that I’d been working on this monthly outlet for two years. I do it now for different reasons now than when first I started. In mid-2020, when the grocery store was my sole foray from the house, I badly needed to feel creative and I don’t trust myself with anything but words.
I’m not really sure why I still do it, other than that I think it’s good to reflect; that’s damn near all I do here. I hope y’all’re still enjoying it, but if not, I’ll probably keep it up anyway.
This month, however, I’m taking a bit of a break. My wife has long said that I treat my weekends with too much urgency and focus, and I have to agree. I’ve had so many signals to slow down over the last couple of years, and with work speeding up, the slowing will have to happen elsewhere. I really do want to focus and be intentional with my weekends, and to fight the need to “catch up” on the weekends.
Modern work asks demands so much. It is ever honed to eat up as much of our time, ability, capacity, strength, and will as possible while leaving just enough behind to keep us going. It’s a trap that is nigh inescapable, except perhaps in our own minds. ‘Hustle culture’ is it’s nom de jour, and it’s everywhere. It isn’t enough to simply not participate; we have to actively suppress it lest we fall into default.
Weekends should be a chance to step back, unwind, and change things up. That’s what I’ve done with my weekends this month, and so I’ve taken a bit less time to write and a bit more to just reflect and faff about.
What have I done instead? Well, since my last newsletter, my wife and I both celebrated birthdays. We took lots of time to visit with friends, taking day and weekend trips. We’ve been busy at work, but taken as many breaks as we could to swim, paddle board, play in nature, and so on. We got a PS5, which has been pretty cool.
And we had some not insignificant challenges. After 8 months with our lovely pup Amos, we came to the incredibly hard realization that our heavily trafficked street was never going to be an environment in which he could feel at peace. He needed something different, and we worked with the rescue from which we got him to find him a chill, rural home to match his needs. And I’ve been a bit sick to boot Though nothing too serious, it’s had more of an impact on me that I’d prefer.
In short, it’s been a hot, humid and yet needlessly dry August here as it has most everywhere. It’s been a month so much like many others, except for in my mind. To quote a fav, “When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, ‘if this isn't nice, what is?’”
Sometimes it’s all we need, and all there is.