Taking a Break

I will have many life lessons to share with you in the coming months. Just not yet.

---

Welcome to Beyond Self Improvement issue #139. Every other Wednesday, I share an essay with practical ideas on finding personal freedom in an unfree world.

---

Dear Friend,

From December 2022 to June 2025, I published 124 weekly essays. At that time, I switched from a weekly to a biweekly publishing schedule, hoping that giving myself more time to think and write would ease the pressure I felt to deliver essays to your inbox consistently. It did not.

My procrastination expanded from one week to two: “I should really start writing that next essay.” As Parkinson’s Law states, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” The same could be said of drawers, closets and garages, but that’s another matter.

Following in this vein, I wrote a piece in December titled “What I’m Letting Go to Write What Feels Alive.” I shared that I wasn’t feeling inspired or motivated by the topics I was writing about and that I wanted to write about ideas that felt more alive. That didn’t do the trick either.

Since then, I’ve had another realization: what feels most alive is the lessons I’m learning today, not ones from years or even decades ago. I’m in a transition period with many insights and realizations, and I look forward to sharing what I’m learning, in the hope it helps you.

However, sharing them with you now wouldn’t be appropriate given my situation. That said, I expect changes in the coming months that will allow me to write more freely about the many life lessons I’m learning. I know I’m being cryptic here, and I appreciate your patience as I try to communicate as clearly as I am able.

So, what does this all mean for you? You should not expect to receive any essays in your inbox in the next six months. However, depending on how things unfold and how I feel, I may still write between now and then. Regardless, please know, I will have much to share in the coming months. In the meantime, there are many superb Substack newsletters worthy of reading.

Thank you for your understanding and for your ongoing readership. Without you, I would have no one to write to.

Keep truckin’,

Ryan

I don’t have any dog photos for you this week. However, I thought you may appreciate this drawing from Jen, a dear friend from high school.