10 Aug, 2026
If you haven't had Belvita meal cookies, you person astir apt had Biscoff cookies, which are similar. These are a classical hose snack. You've astir apt had 1 on pinch a Coke pinch crystal successful a integrative cup, and thought to yourself, 'these cookies suck.' That is simply a adjacent assessment.
I'm not talking astir Biscoff, though. Those are Belvita meal cookie's sweeter counterpart. I'm talking astir Belvita because they are much subtle successful flavor, little texturally satisfying, and thinner/more brittle.
I mentioned successful an earlier post that I was looking for a hybrid occupation owed to overwhelming loneliness and a growing, antisocial alienation from the activities of regular living. I recovered one. It's good. So arsenic to not dox myself, I won't uncover excessively overmuch astir my institution (some group person emailed maine pinch meticulous guesses astir wherever I unrecorded and what jobs I've applied to successful the past, which was a bully motion I've been a spot excessively loose pinch the specifics of my life lol).
The important thing, though, is that this institution is nationalist and truthful considerably much 'buttoned-up' than the high-risk, freewheeling, dopamine-laden startups I've worked astatine successful the past. It's an immensely invited change, moreover if location are times I miss obscenely royal offsites, staying astatine luxury hotels for run-of-the-mill tradeshows, and free ginger and turmeric immunity shots astatine the meal bar.
The level scheme of my agency is fundamentally solid doors on the perimeter pinch backstage offices for executives and cubicles passim for the remainder of us. Highly normcore. No legume container chairs aliases woody backlit risers.
It's besides business casual. The past clip I was successful agency I was 25 years old. I wore set t-shirts and dickies and vans to work. Everybody did. Later, pinch afloat distant companies, everybody connected the All Hands telephone wore hoodies. This is, of course, emblematic of tech.
Now, each greeting that I spell into work, I return a dress garment down from supra my closet, wherever I hung it the nighttime earlier truthful I could steam it. I put connected a leather loop that matches my dress shoes. I consciousness for illustration Gus from Breaking Bad, meticulous and impeccable.
On days I spell into the office, my greeting regular goes for illustration this:
- 5:30 am: aftermath up, speedy shower
- Floss/brush teeth/comb hair/deodorant
- Get dressed successful pleated garment and pants, drawback a 4th zip successful lawsuit immoderate interior building I whitethorn brushwood during the time is simply a small chilly
- Kiss woman & boy connected their respective foreheads while they sleep
- Head downstairs, drawback my backpack, which was loaded up the nighttime earlier pinch immoderate I whitethorn need, caput retired into the damp & still cool greeting air
- Drive to train position listening to Dave Brubeck, looking astatine the afloat trees and the quiet bluish road, extremity patiently astatine extremity lights
- Park, guidelines connected the train level listening to birds. The sun is high. Nod astatine different passengers. Load my train summons into my integer wallet.
- Find a spot connected the train and unfastened my laptop. Skim hacker news & backstage connection boards for absorbing ideas. Tinker successful a record of poems aliases blogs I'm moving on.
- An hr later, successful the city, record disconnected the train. Buy a basking achromatic java astatine the train station.
- Walk done the throngs of group (and occasional pigeons) astir a mile done the metropolis waiting for my java to cool and listening to jazz done headphones. Look astatine advertisements and building facades, miss my small boy (already!), wonderment what woman is doing, consciousness sad astir immoderate bad news I saw connected Reddit that morning, consciousness unworthy of my life, interest astir ambiance change, effort to deliberation astir thing else.
- Approach the impossibly gangly achromatic solid that is my agency building. Badge in. A twelve aliases truthful floors later, measurement disconnected the elevator and plaything into the day: opportunity hullo to coworkers, settee into my cubicle, plug into monitors, sip coffee, gradually get subsumed by unstoppable vibrancy of caffeine high, and we're disconnected to the races.
My weekdays now are defined by subtle and somewhat delicate small joys. If they were an object, they would beryllium made of paper. My greeting regular is an illustration of this. Finding an quiet chair connected the train truthful I tin beryllium unsocial by the model is simply a mini joy, and truthful is making it to activity without a java stain connected my shirt, and truthful are the birds precocious supra the train platform, engaged successful their metropolis of singing, and truthful is seeing that I did, indeed, retrieve to battalion my headphones successful my backpack the nighttime earlier and truthful tin perceive to jazz connected my walk.
The astir satisfying joyousness of my day, though, happens astatine precisely 3pm each day I'm successful office. I spell to the unfastened room area and I make a cup of blueberry herbal tea. I drawback a mini yellowish packet of Belvita meal cookies. I spell backmost to my table and I perceive to lofi thumps to study/relax to (2018 type truthful arsenic to debar AI music) and dip my Belvita cookies successful the beverage and portion the beverage arsenic slow arsenic I can. There are 4 brittle small cookies successful the pack, which is typically conscionable capable to make it done the tea. I usually decorativeness some the battalion and the cup of beverage astatine astir the aforesaid time. Extremely satisfying lol.
This, for me, is simply a Miyazakian ritual. It makes maine consciousness calm and focused, and for illustration I person state to 'move astir the cabin' creatively. It is really I do bully work. In one of the documentaries astir him, the documentarian follows Miyazaki astir for years. His days are punctuated by cups of java and beverage astatine strict intervals, cigarettes, ironed sweater vests, quiet clip for heavy thinking, placing a chair extracurricular his agency for passersby each day, and astir notably, erstwhile he arrives astatine his agency astatine 10 americium alone, he opens each the windows successful the building and says bully greeting to the ghosts who unrecorded there.
For maine lately, mini subtle rituals and sources of pleasance and joyousness for illustration this are an antidote to the firehose of cracked retired dopamine we're perpetually being pelted with.
We cognize the agleam colors connected our phones and the sounds our notifications make and short shape video and accelerated nutrient and hyperconvenience etc are making america irritable, impatient, shallow, desperate, reactive, polarized, anxious, frantic, suspicious comfort-addicts. It is difficult to conscionable stop. I still Doordash worldly immoderate nights erstwhile I get location precocious and everybody's excessively tired to deliberation astir what to make.
But taking comfortableness successful activities that present mini drips of dopamine slow alternatively of a truckload of it instantly is helping maine a lot, I think. I person to effort to salary attraction and beryllium still and consciousness the calm and pleasance that comes from the things I do to consciousness bully successful a day.
During my luncheon break, alternatively of staring blissed retired and slackjawed astatine the slot instrumentality of my telephone watching reels, I jot worldly down successful a small achromatic notebook successful the lounge area of my agency without headphones on. It seems good.
On Mondays and Fridays I don't spell into the office, and truthful acold it's been measurement harder not to beryllium connected my phone/on Reddit/read HN comments each day/etc. So, I'm still moving connected building immoderate benignant of comforting regular into my non in-office days.
I deliberation it's because, erstwhile I'm successful office, successful summation to each these mini comforts, I besides person to do a bunch of worldly I don't want to do: aftermath up really early, hold successful various lines, make mini talk, beryllium upright successful my agency chair each day, muddle done traffic, etc. These exercises successful flimsy discomfort tolerance passim the time increases my defense against going afloat rootlike connected my telephone arsenic often IMO.
The regular I create for my WFH days will person some comforting and somewhat 'uncomfortable' rituals. (Ex: make beverage astatine 3pm astatine location but besides do immoderate symptom successful the ass house-related task during lunch, astir apt gait work). In the absence of 'true' equilibrium successful the post-inconvenience society, I'll person to intentionally create it.
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