Wattamelon Sugar, BYE
Another sunrise. Taking a seat next to the broken window, me and the oven clock read. Me: the Daily Stoic, Him: 7:30. Stove & oven are curious words, one piece left in the other. But regardless of your personal interchange, Stoven is the obvious anthropomorphism, making the range he/him.
The horizon looks like a Friendly's Wattamelon Roll, flamingo-red, without the seeds. You had to have a particular brand of childhood to know this — born before Friendly's became an endangered animal, with some of your summer living done in direct proximity to the Northeast. Discontinued now, it exists only for the hyperbolic association. Stoven reads 7:37. The sky's bled out over snow-banked edges, its color melting faster than the sherbet on a hot day.
I seem to gab on a lot about sunrises. I'm not sorry about it (I am actually, but I'm working on not gaf). It's just that I love them so much, it's hard not to. For beauty's sake of course, and for the health benefits morning sunlight provides (I've just begun to learn about this!). Sunrises are forever-shifting, yet are an ephemeral marker of time. And for me personally, they seem to act as a visual alarm, a private bat signal to pause, to breathe, to do nothing but observe the shifting sands across the sky.
Like many of us who attempt to affect control over the forthcoming year, I chose an annual watchword to stick on my spiritual dashboard as I merged onto Highway-2022. That word was PAUSE.
The 1st came and the universe punched that unpause button with the ferocity of a juiced-up toddler ready to watch his shows. Three hundred and sixty-five days later and I'm looking back at the chaos-wagon I pulled behind me all 2022, shaking my head in retrospective foolishness.
Sifting through the wreckage, I had a thought. If I had to apply a word to the past year now, what would it be? It certainly wasn't pause, but what was the defining motif that underscored my year? Lo and behold, buried in the mess was the word DEVELOPMENT. Webster defines development as a process that creates growth, progress, or positive change.
The business certainly grew this year, running more co-hikes than ever and expanding our programs and offerings into public school & urban hikes. I grew too — in all the ways a human possibly can — and most of that progress was positive. Physically (KCT got me swole af), emotionally (two words, one book: The Tools), socially (turns out talking to people can = friends!), mentally (nature/sunrises/cold exposure), and intellectually (still writing. still a frequent patron at the books & bits buffet). Is intellectual the same as mental?
What Webster fails to define is the fashion in which the development typically happens — the phrase "goat rodeo" comes to mind here — but Freemasons (and maybe Nietchtze) say that, "from chaos comes order." Since those guys know how to use a compass and square and I can't multiply without my fingers, we're gonna trust the process.
So here we are. Idling at the on-ramp of another year. I've picked my word for 2023 and slapped it on the dash. We'll have to wait til Exit 24 to make a consensus but I think once again I'll look for the word that accurately illustrates what went down between here and the next stop. Rest assured, I'll be pumping the brakes at first light, pushing pause long enough to watch each wattamelon melt across the sky.
"For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice." — T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding
Books I'm reading:
Tools of Titans, Tim Ferriss (nonfiction) *I revisit this book every year.
Range, David Epstein (nonfiction) As a self-proclaimed multi-hyphenate, this book has really resonated.
Other Wood, Pete Hautman (juvenile fiction) Read this on your own, and then again with your children.
**I need book recommendations for 2023! Feel free to reply to this email with your must-reads!
Place we've been exploring: The Boulders & Gulf Road, Dalton
Something that's giving me pause: Benefits of morning sunlight exposure
January's Playlist >> Hymns for a New Year
Current Obsessions:
Cadbury Eggs (they're back, baby!)
Bingeing the Huberman Lab podcast
I was tiktok influenced (not the 1st time) & now the "Trifecta" is my skincare routine.
Listening to every Alanis Morissette album just to track the GROWTH.
Stay tuned for new hikes & events!
Stay in motion,
Tay
