Quirkbag Collection #2 – 28.03.25
GYM?
I am not a gym rat. I go to the gym out of occasional interest and reluctant discipline. I am definitely not jacked but just another struggling gym patron no better than “average” in my physique. Anyways, you are probably more fit than I. Remember, my visits are purely out of interest and reluctant – emphasis please on “reluctant” – discipline. I could ramble about the “why” and the “how” going to the gym is beneficial, but that’s the conventional discussion. You should guess my favourite part about going to the gym.
It’s having no digital connection to the world.
Yes, you guessed wrong. Like basically no one else, I do not bring my phone to the gym. It’s just me, myself and the gym for that hour. This is Quirkbag, nothing here is “conventional”. Unsurprisingly, people are in disbelief when I say I do not bring my phone or listen to music at the gym. There’s something soothing about a gym session without any distractions – just mind and muscles. It’s old-fashioned. It’s rugged. It’s cathartic in a way. In that hour, I disappear from the world we exist in and enter my own world. “Solace” would be a nice description but it’s not really like I am Superman seeking solace in the Fortress of Solitude; I appreciate the value of disconnection. You might be wondering why I can’t just switch off my phone and lie in bed. Well, I do sometimes. Remember, I am the “struggling” gym patron. The allure of the bed gets the best of us, and who is to say that is a bad thing?
If you find that lying in bed and clearing your mind helps you lose all sense of dreariness, why see it as a problem to fix rather than a solution to your inner frustration and exhaustion? If solace is what you seek, solace should be pursued – whether at the gym, in the bed, or in your Fortress of Solitude. Maybe it’s just me who likes unplugging and just living life the way it used to be in the 70s and the 80s – that is living life physically, not digitally. It’s a strange thing to do considering so much of our lives are composed of online interactions. Yet, maybe that’s what makes unplugging all the more exhilarating.
Our lives are measured in time, not in screen time; it’s measured in being present, not in online presence. If our horizon in life is as far as we could set our eyes on, how is it that we choose that weird, light-emitting, rectangular object in front of our face? I am no stranger to living life vicariously, but I know that’s not my life. Disconnecting is my first step towards living my life.
What’s yours?
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