Justin Patrick Pierce argues that quarantine productivity fails not from laziness but from collective anxiety and constant bad news that keeps you neurotic. He suggests feeling the weight of it rather than pushing through, then grounding yourself in breath and presence so your actions actually mean something.
Well, you know, that's the simplest answer. And that's what I think probably all good men expect of themselves right now. And they think, I should just show up and do the fucking work. But there's a truth to our lives right now that it's not that simple. And here's something that's important that I think you hear. We think to ourselves, man, I've got all of this free time now. Here I am in quarantine and I've got all this time to do those projects and those things that I really wished I had free time to do. Or, you know, I could see the silver lining in all of this, let's just say, and I should be capitalizing on this time. But as human beings, we really are connected to one another, and social media is evidence of that more than ever. If we just even glance at what's going on there, it's immediately in our psychic field. It's immediately in our emotional field. And even though we've got this free time, there's this neurotic, frenetic kind of sense in the air that makes it difficult to get things done. How many other men on the call are currently experiencing this or have felt this over the course of last week? This is happening around the world. And for us to sit here and think, man, I should be at the peak of my practice right now. I should be fucking on point and taking advantage of this would be to be insensitive to something that's actually happening to all of us, whether we're directly affected or not. And we're feeling the wound of that. The world is fucking suffering right now. The entire world doesn't know what it's going to do. We were afraid of rent bills due yesterday. You know, what about in a month from now when no one's working? What about another month from now if no one continues to work? The entire world is up against this thing, and it's in our nervous systems. It is fucking haunting us. And if we get up and we try to avoid or pretend it's not there, we're not going to be effective. We're going to be lazy. We're just going to feel heavy by this burden. What I recommend to you, and I recommend to everyone, is feel the wound that's currently being felt People are suffering tremendously. Those numbers are growing. People are losing loved ones en masse. My best friend is on the ground floor of a New York City right now dealing with the fallout, and it's horrific. It really is. We need to be allowed to feel that and process that. And I would recommend to you time to sit and be still because movement is your escape. Movement is your medicine, no doubt. But I would like to see you sit still. I would like to see you form a practice of when you wake up, you do this breath routine and you become still for at least 20 minutes thereafter and just feel. Don't think. Feel. Let yourself feel what's going on. Let yourself feel out beyond self. Feel your woman. Feel your family members, feel people you love and care about. Feel out and just be present to that energy. Breathe it like I described here. As you feel it, let the breath move down your body and fill your own belly and cut through it in a loving, compassionate way. And when you find that all your own stability again, in some sense, It's not a masquerade of strength or pretending to be strong right now. It's fucking terrifying out there. People are terrified. It's not going to change anytime soon. But if you could be clear and grounded and conscious and present in the face of that, in the face of death, then you— your presence is a gift no matter what you're doing. That's your practice. And then from that place, you will be inspired, and you might say, now I need to work out. Now I need to hunt. Now I need to go swimming. Now I need to spend time with my woman. And the quality of time spent will be more powerful because you would have sensitized yourself and you've cultivated the presence that you really feel is needed right now.
Ever Feel Like You're Failing? Here's One Mindset Shift to Keep You Motivated
