The Simple Pleasures Of Life

Lost In The Algorithms — Odyssey # 41

Wake up early. Drink a glass of water. Light a candle. Make a coffee. Sit down and write. You’re a writer, after all. You are doing it. And you can do it — just one word at a time.

I’m drawing a line in the relentless sand of the hustle culture, where grinding is the holy grail and taking a breather is almost blasphemous. Or, more accurately, I’m taking a seat. Maybe even a nap or two. Because, contrary to the popular mantra, there’s a profound strength in stepping back, in recognizing that to live truly, sometimes you need to press pause.

John Lubbock once said, “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

And damn, if that doesn’t resonate as I chase this relentless pursuit of…

Perfection?
Success?
A body that defies the natural sag of time?

So here I am, nine weeks from a bodybuilding competition, where conventional wisdom would have me double down, push harder, and grind more. But I’m not doing any of that. Instead, I’m taking a diet break. Going skiing. Putting the pen down for a week…