A day of being human

We are so often busy that it almost makes us non-human. Not in the sense that we’re savages (no!) but in that we forget who we are as a species.

After all, it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day. It’s easy to fall into the FOMO rabbit hole, chasing the horizon, making money, setting goals, keeping your LinkedIn updated, pushing your brand, and being too afraid to stop and ask yourself what you are chasing.

We need days to reset. Days, when we let go of everything we think we “need” to do and, for a change, just be.

I came up with a nickname for such days — “human being days”. These are days when I feel fully human — that is when I am a human being, not a human doing.

On such days, instead of running in the morning, I’d walk. Instead of working and meticulously planning my day, I’d give in to chance. I’d have dinner for breakfast and lunch for dinner. I’d drink tea instead of coffee. I’d listen to some of my guilty pleasure songs. Instead of sitting at my desk all day, answering stupid Zoom work calls, I’d wander around the city alone, pretending to be a flaneur. I’d spend hours in a bookshop and not buy anything. I’d catch a train or a bus without knowing where it was going and disembark whenever it felt right. Then I’d explore the new surroundings. Occasionally, I’d give in to temptation and do crazy things, like (gasp!) lying in my bed all day and not checking my phone or reading the news or scrolling Instagram. Instead, I’d read stupid magazines that make your brains rot or binge-watch a silly…