In the famous words of 311, you should “chill” with family and friends all you can.

Tommy Young
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

I spent my last day of a Labor Day visit with family in Seattle doing nothing but hanging out with my family at the house, on a boat, on a patio, lots of laying around and hugging and chatting and just peacefulness with being in each others’ presence. Not a ton of deep conversation (by design) and plenty of just contedness.

I don’t do this enough. I need to do this more. Whether it’s with family or even friends, the subtle and simple joy I get just from being around people I love and cherish without feeling the need to do something fun or cool or new or distracting is such a relief, and I can’t say that about everyone I know, so I shall keep maximizing my hang time with those types of folks and make more time to just “be” with them.

Hangs in the park, long walks, sitting on couches, those things you might not remember in the long run, but you will carry that energy with you and pass it on to others. I think the most powerful energy sometimes can be created and fostered by these sort of osmotic encounters. Give the energy and love enough time to marinate and multiply, you’ll start seeing cascading effects in your life and others.

This type of energy, along with things like interactive volunteering and helping or mentoring others and such is the only way I think we’ll be able to survive as humans; I mean this in the sense that we are becoming so disconnected because of technology, so we have to make conscious efforts to stay connected and keep human energy alive, as well as the probabilistic need to join together as humans to rally against rampant greed and power-hungry monsters who are intent on ruining humanity as we know it for selfish or psychotic gains.

I did not expect that last part to come up when I started writing this. But it’s true.

Tommy Young

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Recovering human.