Completing full circle at Burning Man
Back from Burning Man, podcast revolution, writing our user manual, cutting the cell phone breaks, and life tips from BoJack Horseman
Hi friend!
This past week at Burning Man has been incredible. Though it was the most unexpected thing to fall in my lap...
Normally it takes me an entire year of planning to go. (Camping, food, tickets, travel to the desert in Nevada... it's a mission!) I had zero intention of going until my friend Heather called me with an emergency. With seven days to go, her husband did not make it through immigrations and she called asking if I would be open to taking his spot.
After sitting with this decision for a bit, I decided to say yes to the opportunity. Seven days and lots of packing and coordination later I was off to Black Rock City.
A big reluctance to go was primarily due to the health issues that came up after my last burn. After burning man 2017, I ended up going to the hospital for months with digestive disorders. When I said yes to the opportunity, I also vowed to put my health first this year:
I had my first sober burn. It was a great learning opportunity to embrace myself without substances. To my delight, I was surrounded by friends and other like-minded peers who supported me every step of the way at burning man. For once, I remember the entire week and all of the interactions I've had, and it feels incredible.
With sobriety, I was also more attuned with my bodily needs, especially rest. I slept every day, lounged around my camp, and explored the desert slowly. Though I didn't see everything burning man had to offer, I felt more revitalized, energized, and inspired after the burn than ever before.
To be honest, I was extremely nervous about going back. In the back of my mind throughout the burn, I had flashbacks of 2017 running through my mind. But now that it's over and my health looks like it's still in good condition (knock on wood), I am relieved and beyond ecstatic.
I finally did it. My full-circle moment. It only took 2 years of hard work and perseverance to get here. ⭕️
The podcast revolution
Though it took me a long time to finally do the podcast, I am not alone. Businesses from Trader Joe's to McDonalds are all getting in on the podcast frenzy. As long as it’s great content, I’m all ears.
Creating a user manual
When it comes to work and life, I'm surprised I never thought to do this: write a user manual of myself to others before working with them. Abby Falik, CEO of Global Citizen Year, shares her user manual that consists of her style, values, things that she doesn't have patience for, communication style, weaknesses and areas of misunderstanding.
Cutting the cell phone breaks
We always talk about being more mindful, especially in technology, and a new study points out that cell phone breaks aren't refreshing at all:
Since there is steady increase in cell phone addiction, the act of reaching for a phone between tasks, or even mid-task, is becoming more commonplace, without a true understanding about the potential cognitive costs of taking a break in this way as opposed to taking a breakthrough another medium. Methods: This experimental study included 414 participants who completed a cognitively demanding task (solving anagrams) either on paper or on a computer screen. Participants in three of four randomly assigned conditions engaged in a break task (selecting items for a hypothetical shopping list) either on a cell phone, a larger computer screen, or on a paper in the middle of the task. The fourth condition had participants engaging in both halves of the cognitive task with no break. Results: The results show that using cell phone for a break did not allow brain to recharge as effectively as the other types of breaks, both in terms of being able to perform quickly and efficiently in the second half of the task (how long it took to complete), and in terms of performance (how many anagrams were successfully solved in the second half). Discussion and conclusions: As people are increasingly addicted to their cell phones, it is important to know the unintended costs associated with reaching for this device every spare minute. Although people may assume that it is not different from any other kind of interaction or break, this study shows that the phone might be more cognitively taxing than expected.
Be better
A life reminder from one of my favorite cartoons BoJack Horseman on being better. You can see the full clip on YouTube.
As always, thanks for reading!
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Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
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