Hey everyone - Adam here!
Today I am specifically setting the intention of tending to the “unsexy” things in life.
I have just returned from New York City on Tuesday night, after having my original flight cancelled for Monday night (a first) and not realizing so until I arrived at the airport.
This led to me having to figure out how to pay my Lyft driver to give me a ride back to the spot in which I was picked up from in Manhattan. The solution was leaving a $50 tip (maximum amount) on the Lyft app. Weird that there’s a maximum tip right?
Luckily - some homies from DJDAO hooked it up and let me crash on the couch.
An extra night in the city - one could have a much worse situation…
I practiced patience and embraced the opportunity to be in NYC another day. Luckily, I was able to arrive back in Michigan safely on Tuesday night.
Needless to say, I will be in New York City again very soon, as with DJDAO the offline/online community of DJs we have built dedicated towards the pursuit and love of DJING… we have a lot of members cooking up individual initiatives on our own, then bringing this together with our group.
Much of the DJDAO activity is centered in New York City and the opportunity for learning/experimenting out there seems to be abundant, especially for DJs.
I will dive fully into DJDAO next week & will surely be writing about New York City’s role in the coming future, as I left this trip vastly inspired in my pursuit as a producer/DJ. As well as continue to feel the reverberations of the big city life.
The Return
Coming home from a trip of any sort, can leave your life back home in flux. I woke up this morning stressed. Not wanting to go out of bed.
The time struck 08:59 and I wrote a simple checklist of things I knew I should get done. I set an intention of striving to do the utter boring chores today.
Dishes. Unpacking. Taking out the garbage/recycling. Taking care of my little kitty Cleo. Doing the Laundry. And yes - the chore of even writing this weekly newsletter, that I took a break from last week due to my trip.
I realize that when I leave these tasks to accumulate this stresses me out way more than I ever have the recognition for.
As I attacked one task at a time from this list, getting in the groove as I listened to a few podcast episodes on Spotify… I started experiencing “flow”.
That state in which all there simply is.. is the present. And the current task at hand.
The flow state is part of the reason why I enjoy writing this newsletter so frequently.
Once I get in the flow of writing and/or tending to any repetitive task overtime I feel unstoppable. It’s then like this attention placed on this specific task can then be applied to my later tasks in the day.
If one can pay meaningful attention to the mundane, imagine how electric you will feel the next time you are working on something you really care about!
Homeostasis
What is homeostasis?
Homeostasis: a mechanism that maintains a stable internal environment despite the changes present in the external environment.
Applied to my current situation in terms of getting back in the groove of things at home… Homeostasis can be referred to as “life maintenance”. Actively doing things like laundry, the dishes, recycling, etc… is myself tending to my surrounding environment and creating the proper conditions in order for me to get back to the things I really want to work on.
Have you ever found a HUGE pile of dirty clothes to be distracting? Annoying? Bothersome?
I know I have. There comes that moment where we need to just grab that laundry basket and start chucking our clothes into the washing machine.
It is my theory that tending to your undone pile of laundry & putting these clothes away after is how we can… return to our sense of Homeostasis.
My theory is that in order to truly pursue meaningful, creative work, the prerequsite conditions for one’s homeostasis must be met. However, this is a continually evolving thing.
Some days - it can be a workout that inspires. Some days - a great meditation session relieves you. Whereas, other days, it’s just starting the damn laundry.
Regardless, I am going to get back to my pursuit of homeostasis. And reader, I suggest you do too. In order to pursue and actually enjoy the really fun things in life, we have to grind through the mundane.
Cheers to lifelong learning,
Adam Bartley