All Of My Favorite Pastimes Involve Sitting
Some things just require you being sat.
The ever-present energy of my child boys astonishes me. I know that most children are like this. Woken up each morning by this innate electricity coursing through them — almost as if they were batteries only charged by the moon and activated by the first sliver of sun that peeks through their curtains at seven or so AM. The kind of energy that would only grace me these days if I had the habits of Lorelai Gilmore and the convenience of Luke’s Diner.
Nevertheless, I love high energy. I was a high energy kid. I’m still a high energy woman. Sashaying around the house picking up this and that, pirouetting over to my closet like it’s a gas station, and shimmying jeans up my thighs and shoes on my feet as if it’s fuel, picking each kid up with each arm like their purses, and I’m ready to drive.
Always being in motion is what I’m used to, but the energy is not necessarily natural. I get by with one cup of coffee, and both a natured and nurtured inclination to act on my ambitions, but what I really love to do is sit.
All of my favorite pastimes involve sitting.
It’s not that I don’t love movement, in fact, being an athlete took up most of my childhood and teen years. It’s just that I think most of the juiciest things in life are only noticed if we get still enough to witness them.
I’m sitting right now as I write this, having just devoured three fourths of a bag of siete salt and vinegar chips, and a vintage cola olipop. This is well-mannered, actually. I was always called a horse if I ate standing up.
And I don’t suppose I would write, or type, well without the surface of a table.
Some things just require you being sat.
Like having cappuccinos with a friend vs. going for a walk together. The conversations feel quite different, in my experience. One is quick-witted, and the other contains the sole desire to be the question-asker so as not to risk cotton mouth from being the talker for the last .35 miles. One has the ease and convenience of simply refilling their cup, and the other has the limitations of a shared desire to not walk another loop. For those reasons, I gravitate towards the former.
One of the highlights of my week is getting to craft an outline on a topic surrounding culture, or the human experience, and sitting on the couch with my co-host mulling over each other’s words. Using banter and personality to add levity to otherwise potentially sterile material. Drinking a beverage that changes each week and laughing at jokes that sometimes don’t. I do this sitting, of course.
Moreover, I am the video editor for our podcast. A responsibility that makes me feel like such a nerd when I say… brings me so much joy. As much as I was trying to land standing back tucks in my backyard, I was also an imovie kid. Making stop motion videos using photo booth, and DIY music videos to Aly & Aj’s “No One” with my friends. It’s a skill and a passion that, I think, will always be a part of my life while sitting oddly on my swivel desk chair.
I wish I could be one of those gals that reads on the treadmill. Unfortunately, it feels anatomically counterintuitive, and I’d rather listen to rap music while people-watching or post social media clips of our podcast. A book is meant to be absorbed in many places — a new york city subway, by a pool, underneath a window while snow stipples the yard, riding shotgun on a long drive, on a plane with the stale air blowing directly into the northeast side of your face, on a blanket in the park on a sunny spring day. All of which, involve lying down or sitting.
A glass of wine or a mezcal margarita (can you tell I’m really into those this season) in a corner booth with good friends and deep-end conversations while the babysitter is sitting on my couch.
Reading to my high energy boys when their battery is low and the sun has not fully set.
Like watching an episode of White Lotus — you get the gist.
The point is that I find a lot of stimulation in moments where I am physically sat. I enjoy letting my mind be entertained when my body is idle and present.
But I would by lying if I said I enjoy sitting without stimulation.
I don’t think this means I don’t want to sit with myself? I think we’re all just programmed to look for sensory input. However, I am curious what I might gain from a low-stim environment.
Perhaps, more natural, moon-given energy.
Xx, Mands