This post is part of my 2022 Word Project. You can read what that’s about here.
Sunday, March 6, 2022
4:47pm
I’ll make this easy for both of us today. The word is break, as in, I’m taking one.
A break from thinking, from reflecting, from pontificating, from using absurd amounts of words to do it all. My end goal is to see if I can go 365 days, writing something on each one, so I’m not skipping the day, I’m just taking a break.
Breaks are underrated.
Brains and bodies aren’t meant to keep going the same way all the time. You need a break from exercise as much as you do from sitting all day. You need a break from work as much as you need a break from running around partying all night.
And I need a break from words. And from folding laundry, and from biking, and from planning, and from everything altogether.
Taking a break, for a minute or a day, is a chance to reset. Clear out the connections. Interrupt the flow. Breathe. Shift perspective ever so slightly.
There are seams in life. Seams holding things together, seams where we’ve stitched together all the various components of our existence, holding people together and places together and days and weeks and years together. Holding ourselves together. If we push too hard against all that, day after day, things are going to fray and tear eventually.
So once in a while, it’s good to stop, let it all deflate, inspect the seams and maybe do a little repair work.
If I spend much more time talking about it or even reflecting on why it’s so important, that will utterly defeat the purpose.
So off I go to turn the volume on everything down, to sever the imaginary requirements, and to float in the empty space it opens up.
Photo: laying my pencil down quietly for the day.