HOME IS WHERE I’LL BE

I’m working out of a nearby co-working spot again, which is close enough for me to walk home for lunch. This tiny side street always amazes me, with the shade, the trees, the church; it’s a great space, though this photo doesn’t really capture that.

Nights are quiet in a college town when school is out, so I’ve taken to doing some night riding with my fixed gear. Very slow and deliberate, listening for crickets and speeding trucks.

I keep thinking to upload photos like this to Instagram. They’d get a few likes and comments, remind people I’m alive. But I am burnt to a crisp on social media.

I liken it to the food court at the mall. As teens, that was the place to be. It’d be weird if all our parents were there, too. That’s social media. Oh, and the mall cops won’t let you see some of your friends, too. That’s the algorithms.

My website is the tiny store front on a side street with no foot traffic. If you want to see what I’ve got in my shop, you’ll have to open a web browser, as I’m nearly done placing ads at the food court for you to come check out my stuff.

Does this mean less traffic? Maybe people will forget about me? Sure.

But I email friends, and text with pals, and get on the phone and Facetime, too. I’m not lacking, and for that I’m grateful.

Investing my time and energy at the food court is over.

FIND THE GOOD STUFF

I removed Twitter and Instagram from my phone, as both were sucking up way too much time. Way too easy to just lose 10 or 20 minutes at a time and come away with nothing of any value.

Of course my brain somehow found Google News, or Apple News, which is just throwing more blunt force trauma into my eyeballs on the regular. No thanks.

Then I remembered, wow, there were design sites I used to frequent which always linked to the coolest stuff.

So in hit up Swiss Miss and found earth.fm, which is amazing nature sounds from all over the world.

Then I found this amazing video, too. A soothing, gorgeous video. Absolultey inspring.

So scrolling through Swiss Miss didn’t flood me with all these things. They were spaced out over several days, not just video after video, pummeling my senses and stealing my attention.

Worth checking out: https://www.swiss-miss.com/

NOT A HOBBY

I posted one of those “I’m too tired from work to do my hobbies so when I get back to work I’m mad I didn’t do my hobbies” memes on Instagram, and meant it mostly for the music / creative side of things.

Which made me realize that biking and running have stopped being a “hobby,” and turned into who I am. I’ve been biking for 30+ years. This July I’ll have been running for six years.

I have so many running clothes, and bike tools, and fuck, I have three bikes again. A Zwift subscription. A gym membership. An Apple Watch. A Garmin for longer runs.

So those hobbies haven’t fallen off. And since January they’ve actually ramped up, as evidenced by my falling resting heart rate (hooray).

But getting in a five hour run takes more than the hour or so it takes me to run it. There’s stretching, cool down, fueling afterwards, getting to bed early to aid with recovery.

So with that, yeah, there’s not much time after a full day of work and an hour long run or bike ride for other stuff.

And right now that’s plenty okay.

FEELING STUCK

Via @NXHLVS

I don’t know how I had the energy to make daily loops in early 2021, or weekly Goodnight, Metal Friend mixes, or live audio streams a few nights a week.

It takes all the energy I can muster to get out for a run or a bike ride most evenings. Creating or making things is absolultey the hardest thing right now. Fuck, even trying to keep writing blog posts is hard, like this one.

But right now those runs and bike rides are enough. I’m not “creating content” like I used to, for other people to enjoy. I’m getting my butt outside, and off the computer, and just staying in the present moment enough to get the blood flowing.

Everything is hard right now, so I’m just trying my best to keep a bit of softness in my life, and not try to beat myself up for not being the most creative, or productive person right now.