By the time this hits your inbox, I’m in the air. Somewhere over Europe, on my way to Marrakesh.
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about time.
Edie is at Irish college. I’ll be in Morocco for another week after that. When I get back, it will be the longest I’ve gone without seeing one of my four. It snuck up on me.
She’s at the age now where these gaps are going to keep appearing. That’s how it’s supposed to go. It doesn’t make it any easier to sit with.
And then I’m watching Nico play football at the weekend. He’s ten. I’m looking at the younger kids on the pitch and I remember some of my friends’ children being that age. They’re now working in bars and restaurants around the area.
That wasn’t long ago. It genuinely wasn’t.
I wrote down a number of questions at the start of this week. Things I want to sit with while I have the space. I may not get through all of them. But one of them is this: what boundaries are not in place? Including some with my phone.
There’s a formula I come back to a lot. Performance = Potential – Interference.
My phone is an extraordinary tool. It’s also a significant source of interference. And if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been more dependent on it, or more engrossed in it, than I have been over the last twelve months.
So this week, it goes in the bag.
No signal for most of it anyway. No podcasts, no audiobooks downloaded either. Battery packs reserved for the watch and headtorch. The journal Paul gave each of us will have to do.
Before that, and before the lads all arrive on Saturday, I have a couple of days in Marrakesh on my own.
People watching. Soaking it in. Making sure the ankle is right and ready.
Then we go.
Next week there won’t be a newsletter. I’m not going to draft a generic one just to keep the streak going. The stillness applies on all fronts.
I’ll be back with you when I’m home.