touching grass
(and your hearts): a retrospective on getting outside during a week of false fall
Floor Time
/flôr tīm/
noun
the 15-60 minute time period spent laying on the floor in the middle of the work day, typically as a relief from the soul-sucking reality of corporate America.
What an absolutely gorgeous week it has been in New York City. False fall is my favorite season of the year1. It is very mindful. Very demure. It doesn’t do too much. It rears its sly head for 3-4 business days before returning as True Fall two months later. Embrace her. Fear her. She’s the moment, she’s the movement.
With the weather tolerable after weeks of humid onslaught, I’ve felt more inclined to get out of the house during the day and touch grass. If you’ve never heard the saying, it’s exactly what it sounds like—getting away from the screens, spending time outside, and grounding yourself in reality.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that we’re in retrograde (whatever that means) and I love it when I have an explanation for the blah I feel. Enter: touching grass. I’m trying to be mindful (demure, etc.) and intentional about this. What can cut through the blah? Here are 5 things that worked for me this week—one thing for every day of the work week that you can try whenever you’re feeling the blah.
1. Wander a grocery store
I am at an age where going to the grocery store is a very fun and relaxing activity. On Monday, I enjoyed a late night shopping session. I looked up a few recipes of interest on NYT Cooking and bought ingredients for the week. It was a very intentional shopping trip, and I even got a new TJ’s drink to try, the Something Spritzy (which by the way, was marvelous, and also GONE—I couldn’t find it when I went again on Thursday RIP).
2. Go phoneless
I mean, this seems obvious. But lately, my relationship with my phone has been…bleak. I’m not sure that I’m having fun on the internet these days. So on Tuesday, I took Klaus on a long walk around the neighborhood and I left my phone at home. Yup, I raw dogged the walk. No headphones, just vibes. And it was splendid. There were storefronts and restaurants in my neighborhood that I have never seen before—have I not been paying attention or are they simply new? It’s eye-opening how much more you observe when you’re not pulling your phone out of your pocket every 30 seconds.
3. Add purpose to your walk
On Wednesday I was at the peak of my inexplicable ennui2. I started hot girl walking but realized my brain was moving at a million miles a minute—what’s gonna happen with that project proposal? was that design I shared with the client good enough? am I doing too much? Finally, I put on an outdoor walking class on the Peloton app. Essentially it’s an audio workout class you can listen to while running or walking. The instructor tells you when to speed up and when to rest just like in an actual workout class, and the soundtrack has just the right BPM to encourage a brisk walking pace. Having to listen to someone’s instructions helped quiet my other thoughts, and I definitely will be doing these classes again.
4. Go somewhere new
Klaus has been quite emo this week (got it from his mama), so I took him to the new dog park that opened in the area. I’ve been hearing great things about the Marcy Green Dog Park—they have a doggy pool, a basket of communal toys, and overall it’s just huge and very clean compared to other dog runs. Klaus and I went in the middle of the day, and plenty of other owners were there working on laptops as their dogs played. I sort of just dissociated and Klaus got some good outdoor time on a perfectly temperate day. Win / win.
5. Start a mindfulness activity
Admittedly I am someone who binges. I binge on books—typically I’ll sit and read a book from start to finish for five hours rather than reading it in segments. I binge on shows—Emily in Paris S4 P1 was consumed in an evening. And I binge on my art—usually starting and finishing a piece within a set time frame (I work well with deadlines, what can I say). But I’ve found that long-term crafts (unbingeable) are meditative for me. They are the antithesis of my binge mentality. My friend Lauren re-introduced me to cross-stitching, and I spent a month making this dog portrait of Klaus, picking up the hoop whenever I needed something to do with my hands. Then last night, I started building my Rolife Free Time Bookshop. These things take SO much patience. I worked on it for two hours and accomplished five windows and doors, a staircase, and that’s it. The meticulous gluing and assembly that must happen to make the bigger thing is unmatched, and I’m glad I have this project to tackle for the next couple months.
What do you do when you need to “touch grass”? Always open to other ideas and curious what you’ve found helpful and grounding. Leave a comment or reply to this email and let me know!
Something I Thought of in the Shower
Can my neighbors hear me when I karaoke “Popular” in here?
Something Pretty
As you can probably tell, finding peace was the theme of the week, and nothing brought me more peace than this beautiful specimen. Would recommend watching the video version for ultimate calm.
Something To Laugh About
My fyp has been dark ngl. But I did find a few gems:
I feel very strongly about my pasta types, and I resonate very heavily with this audio (please note, I have been on a penne strike since 2018).
Kinda obsessed with this woman’s takes on water. Please ma’am, say more.
I posted about this relationship between fire signs and water on my TikTok because it’s really the thing that grounds me.
I saw so many videos from this bachelorette party and honestly kinda rude that they didn’t invite me.
I will never experience the same joy I felt on August 17, 2007 because that’s when this cinematic masterpiece premiered.
SubtweetingCalling Andrew IN for this because it’s a very accurate portrayal of our life together.And finally, will leave you with this Lizzy McAlpine x Rascal Flatts crossover that brought me peace. I need a Spotify Sessions version of this.
Something for Clarice
Hey! This newsletter is free and I intend to keep it that way. That said, if you love it and want to show your appreciation, buy me a coffee :)
By the way…I’m reading this.
I’m back on the reading train and next stop is the Regency era with A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales. I saw this on the #booktok table at The Strand, which I always am skeptical of (like be so for real, these are also the people who preached It Ends With Us supremacy for years, and look how that ended up). That said, it has decent reviews on GoodReads (aka the gospel) and though I expected it to be a romance (because I literally didn’t read the title I was just like, ooo pretty lettering), turns out it’s a murder mystery! Fun. Grabbed myself a copy off Libby and plan to book club it with my friend, Alex. Support your local libraries, kids!
And I’m watching this.
I started A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (once a Murderino, always a Murderino) when in LA and I’m back to it this week! I also noticed that Netflix has acquired loads of AMC shows, specifically A Discovery of Witches which I’ve always wanted to watch. I know it’s still early so trying to punt this more into October for spoopy szn.
Can confirm I’ll be touching a lot of grass this weekend. Hope you find ways to do the same :)
‘Til next time, Murderinos. Your friend,
Clarice
which I now think is actually me experiencing functional freezes like this. scary how good my algo knows me because it’s been feeding me a bunch of these videos since.