Am I back yet? Nearly. I am sleeping again and I am not falling asleep every two hours.
A second short update. I am doing much better. The thing about the human condition is that it does not come and go. Thoughts arise, illness arises, the body breaks down and improves and breaks down again. That is not a failure of practice, that is just being a person. The balance between what was going on outside and what was going on inside was not there for me, and when that goes, I end up letting myself down and letting other people down too. Back recording properly next week.
One thing to try: When you are rebuilding, do not rush back and pile the pressure straight back on.
In this episode
- (0:43) Sleeping again, and not falling asleep every two hours
- (1:18) The human condition does not come and go
- (1:56) The emails and messages that kept me going
- (2:37) The prize is the balance inside
- (3:18) It was quite bad for a while
- (3:57) What I have been putting on YouTube instead
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Thank you for listening.
Steven
The story behind this one
A short update, under five minutes, because I had done one a few weeks earlier and then gone quiet again.
I am doing much better. Sleeping again, and not falling asleep every two hours. Back to meditating a couple of times a day, which I had somehow stopped doing at exactly the point I most needed it, because I had decided I could not.
Before that I had a bad stretch. Almost a week barely eating, and my body catching everything going. Infections were watching me go past and thinking, we will have him, he looks weak.
I know my pattern now. Over promise, take too much on, get overwhelmed, and then my body says no, I am done, and takes the decision off me.
What it taught me
I am deliberately not rushing back and piling the pressure on. Life supplies enough on its own, and sometimes you are not ready for it yet.
There are no prizes for being the strongest victim in the yard.
I have the tools for the dark stretches and I can plough through on willpower, and ploughing through is not the win. The win is the balance between what is going on outside and what is going on inside, and mine was not there.
And when that balance goes, I end up letting myself down and letting other people down with it.
The human condition does not come and go. Thoughts arise, illness arises, the body breaks down and improves and breaks down again.
That is not a failure of practice. That is being a person, and being paralysed makes it a little harder at times.
So I have been having some fun instead. A couple of small videos with no pressure attached, a couple of meditations, and I sold a few things and bought some camera glasses to play with.
Questions people ask
Why is this one so short?
Because it is an update rather than an episode. I would rather say I am still here in four minutes than disappear for another month.
Should I push through when I feel like this?
That is exactly what I did and it is what put me in bed for a week. There is nothing gained by proving you can carry it.
What actually helped?
Going back to the ordinary things. Sleeping. Eating. Sitting for a few minutes twice a day. Nothing clever, which is usually the way of it.




