Rest your weary head
"Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do." – Eric Hoffer
This is the first week in almost two years that I haven’t posted an essay on 37days. I am taking stock of that, noticing whether it is a sign or a symptom, realizing that it is simply a reality.
And the Hoffer quotation speaks to it, really.
While I’ve been mainly on planes, in airports, and hotel rooms since I last saw you, it’s not the travel that is wearing me down, it’s the "not doing." The not writing, the not walking, the not familying, if there is such a word.
I’m as weary of not writing 37days as I am of traveling–I miss the rhythm of it, the way in which it makes me think, energizes me, grounds me, intensifies my days. I believe Hoffer nailed it: we are made so very weary by ignoring the signs that tell us to do the thing we most love. Those acts of resistance wear us down, over time, like those trees bent over by the wind.
I’m going to ponder further what this means, this lapse–is it that writing is a priority only when I have time for it, a clear mind, a clean desk (well, if that’s a condition, I’m sunk), a rested body? My, how tiring it is to wait for the perfect conditions! Or is writing so urgent that it must happen in spite of, not only if conditions are right. Yes, I’m going to ponder all this a bit more, right after my nap.
As I finish my next essay–on hikaru dorodango, I believe–I’ll push you out into a new sphere by suggesting you visit these sites that I always enjoy, some because they make me think and bring me new insights and some because they are, simply, gorgeous. I hope you will enjoy them too; go on a tiny journey and then when you least expect it, I’ll rejoin the caravan:
Anecdote
Yarnstorm
Swapatorium
Johnnie Moore’s Weblog
Own Your Brand
Crossroads Dispatches
Parking Lot
Coming Out Colored
I Heart Farms
Penelope
Pause
What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?
Legacy Matters
Notebookism
The Perfect Pantry
This list kept growing as I began it, and there are more, more that I enjoy, but I’ll stop there for now. I’ll be back when the nap ends.
