A DAY IN THE LIFE

When I tell you this fellow was the only person who smiled at me in the gym today, I mean the ONLY one. There were at least a hundred people there and not a word of conversation could be heard. Other than some clanging barbells and a few grunts, it was deadly silent! Almost every machine I passed had someone sitting on the equipment, with their ear buds in, just staring at their phones.

Had I planned to use those machines, I’d be out of luck. Fortunately, I was just there to run up and down the stairs a few times and try the bicep curls (I’m working solely on my left one). As I passed by all those folks, they seemed dazed as if in a stupor. Apparently, we scroll through our phones at least 3 1/2 hours a day! Who has that kind of time to waste? Not me. I lead a very, exciting life!

How exciting? Well, just this morning, a rattlesnake was hit by a car at the top of my driveway. Later, I watched him get carried off in the beak of a Red-tailed hawk. En route to pickleball, I listened to a podcast about folks who fall in love with their AI chatbots. After lunch, I culled sunflower seeds from the heads of the ones I grew last spring and photographed a bunny in my agave. (Say that fast five times)

Later, I sang opera while vacuuming and practiced my piano & guitar because you just never know when Carnegie Hall might call. I took a quick swim and met a sweet, old lady. (She likely said the same about me). I saw clients, wrote case notes, then made a spectacular, chicken curry. Afterwards, I worked on another episode of my Netflix series (which Netflix doesn’t know about yet).

Now it’s time for bed. With a life as breathtaking as mine, there’s no time for staring at an inanimate object. Real people and adventures are everywhere—but you have to look for them. Talk to strangers. Follow a bobcat. (Not too close.) Learn Italian. Otherwise you’ll become as flat and dull as the screen you’re staring at. The fellow above just radiates joy. His biceps aren’t bad either!

PS. I just figured out how to check my own screen time. Turns out I’m on my phone about 15 minutes a day. . .that was actually a bit longer than I thought.