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I was at the gym recently for about two hours, and for the first 90 minutes or so, I watched the end of an action movie, then several MMA fights and then a news show, which primarily focused on the war in Iran.
Then I went to the treadmill and climbed on to get in a run. I found myself a little jittery, and was hoping to run off whatever kind of bad energy I was feeling. I put on a TV show on my phone but then I thought, maybe I will run for a bit with no music, no TV, no cage fighting. Maybe the silence would be good for me.
So I did that, and it was fine. Then I glanced at the treadmill screen in front of me, and there was a stock image of a small creek running down through the woods. It was a blurry image, meant to just be the throwaway backdrop picture as you type in the speed and incline of your walk or run.
But I found myself staring at that image and feeling calm. I zoomed in my eyes on the water, and the rocks, and the greenness of the vegetation surrounding it. Next thing you know, I looked up and 10 minutes have gone by and I found myself much more peaceful.
So what is that about, exactly? Well, I don’t know, for sure, but my opinion is that with me, I swallow imagery and sounds all day that are fun and fine and entertaining. But they aren’t very nourishing. They don’t really do much for me other than entertain.
Let me be very clear: I like to be entertained. And I will not be eliminating fun podcasts so that I can listen to the soothing sounds of a babbling brook, and I will not be glueing a waterfall photo on the inside of my eyelids.
But that gym moment did remind me that I will become whatever I consume. If I wake up tomorrow aiming to be a spiritually fit, serene father, husband and neighbor, but then I listen to people scream at each other about the NBA MVP or the top 2028 presidential primary candidates, well, those two things do not add up to serenity. I’ve written in the past about the audio of life, and how our inputs are really never turned off any more—I pour music, podcasts, TV, the news, Instagram reels, whatever, directly into my ears, which then affects my thoughts, which then affect my actions. Those sounds matter.
And I would say the same thing about sights—what I look at all day will impact how I look at the people I care about. That means I need to seek out babbling brooks and quiet as much as I do UFC events and football games… though I am now intrigued by the idea of seeing how I would feel if I could merge having sports happen in the woods…
This newsletter is a place of joy and laughter about the deadly serious business of sobriety. So, as I will often do, let me close with a joke:
Hoping to commune with nature, two boozers went on a camping trip. But by nightfall, the mosquitoes were so bad, they retreated into the tent and started drinking. Finally, one poked his head out to see how things were going and saw a swarm of brilliant fireflies.
“We’re done for!” he cried to his buddy. “They’re coming after us with flashlights.”
(Credit: AA Grapevine, May 2002, Chris B. from Columbia, South Carolina)
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