[AKN #99] Go On Vacation And Actually Be On Vacation
LAUGH: If You Are Going Through A Tough Time Keep Going, LOVE: Is Comedy The Right Medium For A Nuanced Discussion?
Sup homies?
I’m on vacation in Palm Desert this week for some rest, relaxation, and wedding planning.
After being here for 3 days, I am proud to inform you that I am now a man of the desert. A title I earned after killing an unwelcome scorpion and politely evicting a lizard which took up camp underneath the couch of the house I am staying in.
Feel free to refer to me as Paul Altriedes — or Muad'Dib for the blue-eyed Fremen homies out there — from here on out.
I will be returning home by ornithopter next weekend, but for now I am looking forward to some sunshine, trialing out wedding vendors, and excessively indulging in the spice until my eyes turn blue.
Right now, you are either thinking “wow he really went all in on the Dune references here” or “what the fuck is he talking about?” which means it is the perfect time to segue into this week’s topic.
On to the newsletter!
LIVE: Go On Vacation And Actually Be On Vacation
I have a hard time doing nothing.
My preferred state is active. Always moving. Always doing. Active makes me feel productive and useful which brings me a sense of satisfaction.
Doing nothing makes me feel restless. My skin crawls. I want to be doing something, but I can’t even articulate what that something is.
If left to do nothing for long enough, I start to feel anxious. I think about all the things I could be doing. The things I should be doing. So I fill the time with stuff to do.
Which brings me to my current vacation.
This morning I woke up and spent the morning journaling, reading, walking, exercising, and then I went to write this newsletter.
As I sat there working through a much more complicated post, I felt annoyed.
I felt annoyed because I was so rigidly structuring the free time of my vacation.
I felt annoyed because I was forcing myself to send this out to keep a 99 week Tuesday newsletter streak going.
I felt annoyed because I can’t just do nothing.
But then instead of powering through that feeling of being annoyed like I usually do and finishing my post, I listened to the “I’m annoyed” emotion and stopped.
I erased the entire complicated post I was working on and wrote this one instead.
Straight stream of consciousness.
When I read it back I saw inside the weird productivity prison my mind is trapped in and knew exactly what to do.
So now I’m logging off, shutting down, and going to go do nothing.
To hell with my to do list. Those things will be there when I get back.
Enjoy your week, folks.
Hope you take some time off to just hang and see you here next week.
LAUGH: If You Are Going Through A Tough Time Keep Going
LOVE: Is Comedy The Right Medium For A Nuanced Discussion?
I jive with the following tweet:
I jive even more with the significantly longer article Christian wrote here where he specifically tackles how frustrated he was listening to Oliver’s segment on the housing affordability crisis.
And I especially jive with this meme.
How do we get off this runaway train where everyone’s gold standard of truth is from a comedian?
CLOSING TIME
You don’t have to go home, but you can subscribe here:
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are strictly my own. Who else’s would they be?
Fear is the mind-killer,
K.Rapp