A day when nobody texts you is a weird test. If you feel erased, your worth might be parked in your phone.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
A day with no messages quietly reports where you keep your sense of worth. If the silence feels like proof that you have been erased, then a fair amount of your self-image is stored somewhere other people control, and that supply rises and falls for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Most of the time the quiet is just everybody being busy.
On the next quiet day, do one thing with no audience: a walk, a book, something made badly in private. Notice that you are still here afterwards. Keep a little of your worth somewhere that does not need a notification.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
How did you feel on the last day your phone stayed silent?
MORE IN SOLITUDE & SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- Your first solo train ride feels huge because it is. You found out you can get yourself somewhere.
- Catch yourself performing. The voice you use, the laugh you fake. Then ask who it’s for.
- Sit on an empty swing set at dusk sometime. Twelve-year-old you would have a lot to say about where you ended up.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.