JANUARY 2024 – Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, board games, spending time with family and friends… sometimes life is just good like that. Nothing else required. The joy in simplicity is so overlooked in modern life, take it from me, someone who all too often spends an abundance of time and energy trying to maximize efforts and achieve peak efficiency. When sometime all you need to do is step away from the screen and reconnect with the real world. Like that saying to go touch grass (or in this case snow), haha, there is a lot to be said for getting outdoors and engaging with your senses and connecting with nature. Find your version of it, whether that be going for a long walk, scuba diving, climbing a mountain, sailing, whatever it is, make the time for it, you won’t regret it.
I touch on this message a lot I think, because I’m also making the case to myself, to remind me to get outdoors more and really live, versus miss that element of existing and connecting with the world outside of myself. I heard this sentiment the other day, about having a life that you don’t need a vacation from, and it definitely resonated with me. That continues to be my target as well. As I really like being active and working and having goals, that makes me feel energized and useful. What is then important to do is make sure connecting with friends and family is one of those key goals, so that it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of everyday life and achievement. So thank you to everyone who has reminded me of this, it is an important message to hear.
Aiming towards an optimistic 2024, I snagged a copy of ‘Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress’ by Steven Pinker. A very thorough book on a whole manner of pivotal issues of the 21st century, it is awesome to read a book that infuses perspective and hope into the biggest challenges of the day. With the corporate media cycle and intense focus on soul crushing dreariness and disaster, it is important to come up for air and see the bigger picture. There has been many, many monumental leaps forward in the success and well-being of civilization and reflecting on that unlocks the possibility of optimism and investment in the future. That is what I want to be a part of and focus on, so look for more of that from me as I plan my next moves.
Keep after it everyone, cheers!
~ CS
