I’ve got an announcement to make on the other side of today’s lesson, so stick with me to the end…
A few years ago, a buddy told me he’d cashed in a bunch of sick days to give himself a “self care week”.
His strategy:
Ordering takeout and finishing an entire MyCareer on NBA 2k.
I know I’m preaching here, but that ‘aint no mfxcking self-care.
Swapping psychological stress for neurological stress…
(ie. going on a dopamine bender via. video games, social media, binge-watching, etc)
…Is not going to de-stress you, it’s just going to stress you differently.
(as he put it afterwards — “now I need a vacation from my vacation”)
Remember:
Self-care means giving yourself what you need, not what you think you want.
It means re-building your energy through activities that build energy:
Sleep, good food, nature, friends, meditation, qigong, even exercise in some cases.
It doesn’t mean strapping yourself to the couch and beating Zelda in two weeks.
(ask me how I know…)
Anyway, I’m a big fan of self-care done right; the right type, in the right dose, at the right time.
And that is exactly what I plan to give myself.
Here’s the story:
Tomorrow, I set sail for our third annual summer retreat.
15 young killers and a world-class organic food chef (shout-out to the legendary Sean McCart) will converge on Salt Lake City for seven days of advanced personal development and team jing-building.
(Kidding about the jing-building part… I think. No telling what goes on downstairs after bedtime)
It is, arguably, my favorite week of the year.
It is also, inarguably, intense as hell.
And, while I rarely seem to get tired during the event, I crash like a mac truck afterwards.
The last two years, I tried to power through and keep working, which worked not at all.
So this year, I’ll be learning my lesson and taking 2-3 weeks fully off immediately following the retreat.
No emails, no work, no Path community.
(sorry fellas, I’ll be back soon)
I’m aiming to return in the final week of August, or the first week of September, depending on how I’m feeling.
In the meantime, we’ll continue dropping one new video per week on YouTube.
And — though I haven’t announced it or even finished setting it up yet — you can also listen to all of our YouTube videos on Apple or Spotify podcast.
When I get back, we’ll have another year of retreat recordings in the bank, and a fully-loaded fall schedule that includes, tentatively, my biggest and most ambitious project to date.
I can’t wait to share it with you.
In the meantime, have an amazing finish to your summer.
Give yourself some (proper) self-care.
Binge-read some old emails (The Maze is highly recommended).
And I’ll see you on the other side.
– T
P.S. The TL;DR version:
I’m leaving for our summer retreat tomorrow, and will be taking 2-3 weeks off immediately afterwards.
I’ll be back in late August or early September.
And, when I return:
