I’ve accumulated a lot of thinking space regularly: with family events I haven’t had the bandwidth to listen to my news podcast (I’m completely out of the loop on Ukraine or inflation), my news app has discontinued its service, and I haven’t been reading or watching a lot of tv. Most of my consumption has been listening to music.

It feels nice. I’ve long struggled with the balance of staying informed versus focusing on being the best human I can be. Over the past two weeks, I’ve successfully centered my attention on myself and my tribe—and this is crucial to being able to contribute to the world.

We each can offer something unique to society, and it requires thinking space to develop it. Thinking space can sometimes be painful, or feel foreign. But the dividends are worth putting everything down and honing in on our humanity and the well being of our tribe.