Bury Me in the Swamp

Image via @dairyboy

“To understand the lowcountry, you have to move through it.” Dairy Boy Campaign

Florida is one of the few states where the bar licensure has no reciprocity with any other state. Why? Because Florida is “unique.” There is no arguing with that.

A few days ago, Dairy Boy’s new campaign turned my head. This was all I saw, and I understood—

Via @dairyboy

One of the things I love about the Dairy Boy’s brand is that it has an all-American feel, sort of in the way Ralph Lauren does. Ralph Lauren channels and creates an American elegance tied to rugged practicality.

Dairy Boy goes for American cool with a side of country, and at times, Nantucket. This time, they are honoring the best state— Florida. Feral Florida, Zora Neale Hurston’s Florida, Lauren Groff’s Florida, Carl Hiaasen’s Florida. My Florida.

Bury me in that swamp.

“Of all the places in the world, she belongs in Florida.” Lauren Groff

The lowcountry camo is an ode to a wild place. A place where seemingly improbable things occur. A place where nature reigns. A place where animal sounds will make your heart beat out of your chest, and where you will experience the darkest night.

Via @dairyboy

“Florida’s a weird place. It’s like a melting pot inside a boiling pot inside a nuclear reactor.” Carl Hiaasen

As someone who claims the state as a home state of my most formative years, I often get a lot of questions— “Do you like Florida?” “But isn’t it so backwards?” “What about all the botoxed women in Palm Beach?” (A special one from my boss— ironically, our colleagues are some of the most botoxed women in the city). I always say glowing things about my state. Palm Beach is a (pretty) spec in the grand scheme of the state. People who only think of South Florida miss the true beauty of Florida— its wilderness.

Via @dairyboy

Paige Lorenze, the founder of Dairy Boy, seems to, at times, find herself in Florida in support of her tennis pro fiancé. I was excited to see that she didn’t just stay in the city. She went to the swamp, and found an abundance of inspiration.

“I was born and raised here [in Florida], so I still have tremendous affection for the state – especially the few wild places that haven’t disappeared under concrete. What’s left is still worth fighting for, and that’s why I stay.” Carl Hiaasen

I am excited to see someone celebrate Florida’s feral side. It’s a strange and healing place. Once you go camping where the mosquitoes sting you through your clothes— once you swim or walk near an alligator and hear its grunt— once you have been baptized by the crystal clear springs— once you have had the wind in your hair while on a boat— there is no going back to tame.

Paige Lorenze via @dairyboy

Here’s to wild. Here’s to humid. Here’s to splashes of mysterious water. Here’s to Florida.

Paige seems to be in her element!

Some songs that always remind me of home:

Poetry by Javed Akhtar: Ghazal

From Quiver (Translated from Urdu)

“If dreams are ready for the harvest, know

The time of pain has come. Prepare to sow.

This life is a strange business when I see

That gain and loss are all the same to me.

Someone is shattered with grief, still smiles with joy.

Just like the face upon a broken toy.”

Regaining the Funny Plot

“Every episode of Seinfeld could have been solved with a cell phone […] We used to have miscommunications that couldn’t be corrected instantly. We lived in that chaos and it was funny and we were happier.” Kelly Oxford

Seinfeld image via Pinterest

By: Gabriela Yareliz

The wellness online world is fantasizing about going analog. Back in the day, the inability to communicate in real time made for good tv and funny and chaotic living. We survived by telepathy, planning and deeply knowing each other. There was a trust and code. People showed up when they said they would. We practiced patience and gave each other grace.

Now, we have phones on us 24/7 in shows and life, but the plot still revolves around the inability to communicate, period. We have become our worst selves.

In real life, we talk past each other, and it’s no longer funny. Our attention span sucks, and time feels like it is flying. Everyone is bored, but no one knows how to be bored.

What if going analog goes beyond writing in a notebook and using stamps? What if it’s a training ground for planning, assuming the best and deeply knowing and being known? What if that is how we regain the funny plot?

Keeping Calm

“Calm isn’t a personality trait. It’s preparation.” Natalie Dawson

By: Gabriela Yareliz

A lot of our own stress can be manufactured. The next time we feel calm depart, we should ask ourselves how adequately we prepared. More often than not, therein lies the answer.

A Lesson from The Abolition of Man

“Did you know C.S. Lewis predicted the modern obsession with “being nice” would destroy the soul?

In The Abolition of Man, Lewis argues that when a society stops believing in objective virtue, it doesn’t become tolerant… it becomes manipulable.

He calls the result “men without chests.”

People with appetites and intellects, but no courage, no honor, no trained moral instincts.

They can calculate everything and defend nothing.

Lewis saw that once we reject inherited moral law, we don’t become free. We become raw material… easily shaped by propaganda, pleasure, and fear.”

via @imnothavingfunanymore5.0

Ruling Over the Ashes

“An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” Sun Tzu

Anywhere we see corruption, violence and a disregard for freedom and human life, we see what Sun Tzu was talking about— men who rule over the ashes.

It certainly feels like these men have dominated the headlines this year.

The (Obvious) Smoke in an Elevator

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Sometimes, our gut feeling and intuition is blunt and clear. We receive the message and understand it immediately.

I stood there clutching some recycling as the elevator door rolled open. I was eager to get into the elevator as it’s the only way into the basement where the trash and recycling are located. It had been very slow on the way down. Now, I could see why.

There were about seven EMS personnel in the elevator (mind you, this is a small elevator). When the door opened, I stood there stunned mentally processing the fact that there was no room for me. As I stared at them, I saw smoke clouds puffing up behind two of the EMS people. My eyes followed the smoke clouds down and saw there was a woman, pinned by EMS to the elevator wall, casually smoking as if nothing was wrong.

It was a bizarre scene. They stared at me waiting for the door to close again. I literally said out loud, “Oh, there is certainly no room for me. I will bring it back up.” They were quiet as smoke continued to puff as the doors closed.

Earlier that day, I had heard banging on all of the apartment doors in our hall (odd for our building). This must have been the person doing it. She must have had some sort of breakdown or disturbance. Who knows.

All I know is that when the door rolled open, I felt a pit in my stomach and something about the scene was immediately off. It was the same feeling that had told me to not open the door when I heard the noise in the hall.

Sometimes, it’s not so undeniable.

This is your PSA to listen to your gut. It can be in the most minor things– which route to take, what shoes to wear, even what exercise to do.

Recently, I noticed how I felt after doing a certain type of exercise. I wanted to do that exercise; be a part of that community so to speak, but one thing was true– when I did it, I didn’t feel great. In some ways, it made me anxious. I kept trying to push this– I am very disciplined after all. Until one day, I was like, “Why are you doing this to yourself?” I kept wondering why I was ignoring my own body and the voice in my head that was screaming to me that this was not for me (and also screaming at me to cancel before renewal, ha). The cardio had me feeling like trash and flailing. Listen, I am slow, and I needed to come back to something I already knew– that I like low impact. I respond well to low impact and low-impact modifications, and I didn’t need to push myself into something that made me feel terrible just because it seemed cool in theory.

I’ve been writing a lot about discernment, and I think that a big key in us developing discernment is learning to not ignore that voice. It’s a serious thing. We can’t keep self-abandoning and overriding the instinctive feeling and voice inside. The more we ignore ourselves, the more we lose the ability to hear the voice when it really matters– when it’s not just shoes and cardio. Some things will be really obvious, like the smoking woman pinned to the elevator wall surrounded by EMS that was keeping her controlled. Can you imagine if I would have squeezed into the elevator, and just been like, “Here we go!” As absurd as that sounds, sometimes we override important signals, and we do not read the room. We stroll in as oblivious or stubborn as it gets. It’s the equivalent to getting into an elevator car where something very concerning is being resolved.

Some things are less obvious and more complicated. Sometimes, we wish the voice said something else. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is the ability to sit with it, recognize it, gain clarity from it and obey. As we continue to heed the voice, the voice becomes clearer, and we begin to align ourselves. It’s important to nurture the voice. Otherwise, we’ll end up in some bizarre scene feeling miserable, wondering how on earth we got there.