Disconnect in 12
A few moments on the beach before traveling back to Seattle
A popular, year-end NYT editorial by Pico Iyer is about stillness, quiet, and clearing the head.
In barely one generation we’ve moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from them — often in order to make more time. The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug. Like teenagers, we appear to have gone from knowing nothing about the world to knowing too much all but overnight.
That’s what cyclists do on their rides. I find the most clarity when I’m only thinking of how best to negotiate a turn or cross a barrier most efficiently. Like that song says, “who needs to think when your feet just go.” Especially, when your feet are turning pedals.
My New Year’s wish is that more people can disconnect in 12. That they’ll get out of the cars and get healthy in their heads. Bodies too.
The road ahead