The Sunday Digest 142
"Quiet walks by quiet streams and a window that looks out on Corcovado."
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you.
Sunday Read › How to Stop Work Anxiety From Sabotaging Your Vacation
by Alisha Haridasani Gupta for The New York Times (December 22, 2022)
We were getting ready for our first dinner of the vacation. After steaming our clothes and showering from the pool, everything finally seemed to be falling into place. Normally, it’s hard to beat that feeling — the excitement of that first meal when you know you have nothing to do for the next five days.
But when I tried to use my film camera to snap a couple shots during golden hour, a wave of anxiety hit me out of nowhere. Not only was the camera not working correctly, the analog nature of film caused me to spiral. Even if I get it to operate, will the photos even turn out? Admittedly, I was panicked. Too panicked.
When you invest your time and energy into taking a vacation, you want to ensure that everything goes as well as possible. The smallest things can throw you off: a delayed flight, accidentally opening your work email, or in my case, technical difficulties.
While I eventually got my camera to open and operate well enough that I could snap photos, the anxiety that filled me throughout the trip about whether or not they’d turn out always seemed to be lingering. It didn’t ruin my trip, but I’ll always remember it as “the trip when I knew I needed to buy a new camera.”
Luckily for me, they somehow turned out better than I imagined. However, that’s not the case for everyone. Here’s an excerpt for this week’s Sunday Read.
Khemaridh Hy, a 43-year-old entrepreneur, still remembers coming back from his honeymoon 10 years ago to a mountain of email from his job at the financial firm BlackRock. Any lingering relaxation was wiped out. “I swear, I probably sprouted my first gray hairs on that flight back, because there were like 1,700 unread messages,” he said.
“It’s almost like you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t: If you do check your email and stay on top of things, then your spouse is like, ‘You’re always thinking about work.’ But if you don’t, you know that the minute you turn this thing back on, your life’s going to suck,” he said. Though his honeymoon was 10 years ago, it still stands out in his memory as a vacation that, though enjoyable, also caused him a lot of anxiety — a feeling that has continued almost every time he has taken a vacation since then.
Read in full here.
Additionally, for paid subscribers this week, I wrote over 1,500 words on my second-ever sound bath experience I had in Tennessee a couple weeks ago. You can read that in full here:
The Pursuit of Relaxation: Sound Baths
Welcome to The Pursuit of Relaxation, a paid series where I’ll recount experiences, classes, or strategies aimed at achieving a level of zen — whether they worked or not.
The Sunday Haiku
The pillow wrinkles
on your face tell me that you
need some more coffee.
New Episode › Retail Therapy 120: Soft Sleeze Outdoor Voices
Whether or not Outdoor Voices can make a comeback after their cryptic Instagram behavior, oversized and battered tote bags, the rise of Normans aka 'soft sleeze' guys, the flex of pre-released books, wishlist items, and more.
P.S. We were the first to record with the new studio setup for Circling Back’s new live schedule (daily from 10:30 to 11:30 CT) which you can watch here tomorrow.
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and anywhere else podcasts are found. You can also follow Retail Therapy on Substack.
Things I Saved This Week
My Sunday To-Do List
I’ve had a virus since Thursday that’s still lingering, but I feel good enough today that I have an internal need to
befeel productive.We’re out of coffee this morning, so that’s first on the docket.
I have two episodes left of season four of The Bear — which I’ve actually really enjoyed — so I’d like to wrap that up tonight before bed.
Before it gets too hot outside, I’d like to take my son to our favorite nursery to buy a couple plants that we can put in some empty pots we have. He, however, will just want to go to see the turtle pond.
After how much time I’ve had to spend in bed, I don’t think my dog will let me escape today without at least a few rounds of fetch in our yard.
I hope you have an incredible Sunday that prioritizes relaxation and enjoyment,
Will
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