Rest 🗞️ Slow News Day #17

Hey,

COVID really fucking got me, to be honest.

I felt pretty grim, probably the worst cold/flu I’ve ever had, but not exceptionally unwell and I didn’t need any external medical attention.

My cough and, more than anything else, my fatigue persisted… but I got over it. I thought.

Travelling to Tenerife and Cactus Coliving last Tuesday kicked my ass. Or maybe it was the rush of social interaction and new faces. Or the novelty of a new place and getting settled in it. Maybe it was all of it.

For pretty much a full week, I was low on energy and racked with guilt. The whole point of joining a community like this is the fact it is a community. It’s why we aren’t staying in a hotel or an Airbnb—the joy of sharing a space, ideas, and moments with an international community is rich and plentiful.

So lying in bed for hours on end and feeling exhausted after walking to the supermarket and back felt like the opposite of what I was ‘supposed’ to be doing. Not for the first time, my therapist helped me pick apart the story I was telling myself.

Being in an intentional community means committing to acting with intention whilst I’m here—but that starts with myself, not the community or an idea of who I should present myself as. I’m not here to be some idealised cool traveling nomad version of me, but just… me.

I was so busy fighting myself to be more active or interesting or whatever other nonsense I told myself, that I failed to see that my body needed me to be present with it. And slowing down to look after myself better was the best thing I could do for myself and the community at that time—as it meant acting with intention and truly living the values, not the vision, of communal living.

That quote: “wherever you go, there you are” seems to follow me around a lot. I should learn to listen to it more often.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

After I press send, I’ll be brewing up yet more Yallah Coffee. That's a theme from the last few weeks, I know—I hope to have some Canarian coffee to share with you soon! This time, I’ve cracked open their Sitio Portella roast. It’s a good ‘un, which should come as no surprise.

I’ve been on a killer run of music recently, so stand by for a few suggestions to accompany your coffee and suit different palettes:

Like lyricism, tonal texture, and introspection? Give Runner’s exceptional new track i only sing about food a go.

Something upbeat, oomphy, and with floaty vocals? Alvvay’s new album is elite; try the single Belinda Says to get you warmed up.

An anthem for self-love? Vision Boards by Good Looks (”If there really is a God, let it know that I tried my best with the hands that it gave me / And tell the voice inside my head to shut the fuck up because I tried my best and I am not listening / I am deserving of your love”)

Like an addictive riff? Good Morning’s Country has been rattling around my head, along with the striking line (”Sometimes I still think about dying / No, not the feeling but the want / Not quite as much as I did back then / But it’s still something I’m trying to work on”).

I bloody love music. I hope any or all of those suggestions make you feel something, too.

Take it easy,