3.06.2026 Subscriber Weekly Round-Up | On Distractions
On energy, epistemic hygiene, and the digital landscape
This week felt full in the best way.
I had a proper date night with my husband and my best friend at Arena Stage, where we saw Chez Joey. And listen. It was a time. The cast was incredible, the energy was contagious, and I laughed so hard I nearly embarrassed myself.
If you are in the DC area, see it! It has been extended to March 22nd because they are waiting on you! Do not debate. Just go.
The whole evening felt like an early birthday gift to myself. I floated out of the theater singing songs I barely knew and attempting a Lindy Hop that lived somewhere between vintage jazz and mild ankle distress. My poor husband has endured days of enthusiastic humming and spontaneous living room performances. Marriage is a ministry.
The very next day, I was back with my beloved book club family. We have been reading together on the top floor of Kramer’s Books for over a year now. I am so thankful for this space of beautiful humans! Two friends came to the book club this month, which made our discussion of Song of Solomon even more special. Doing that work in a room full of generous minds felt sacred.
One of the loveliest surprises was meeting an older couple from Alabama who have been in a book club together for thirty years. Thirty years, ya’ll! I could not stop thinking about all the living they have done through stories. All the seasons of life marked by characters, conversations, and shared imagination. I walked away deeply encouraged by that kind of long obedience to community and curiosity.
I also discovered a Book of the Month club I plan to check out (thanks, Brianna🤗), and also picked up Uketsu’s Strange Buildings. (Yes, it is out!)
And this morning, I took The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey, with me to the hair salon and quietly slipped into Yorkshire while the dryers hummed around me. I am just entering this strange little world and already feel myself settling into its rhythm.
And of course, one of my greatest joys each week is reading the beautiful, thoughtful work of this community. Your words linger with me long after I close my laptop.
Which brings me to this week’s theme.
Distractions.
The loud ones.
The subtle ones.
The ones dressed up as productivity.
The ones that quietly steal our presence, our energy, and our attention.
Each of the pieces I am sharing today explores a different kind of distraction. One looks at how we mismanage our energy. Another examines how our information ecosystem overwhelms our sense of truth. And the last considers how constant digital noise reshapes our closest relationships.
Together, they felt like a gentle invitation to slow down and notice what is pulling at us.
Here are the pieces that stayed with me.
Stop Managing Your Time. Start Managing Your Energy
Ashley June | The Wandering Muse
Ashley challenges the productivity myths many of us have swallowed whole. Instead of treating every hour as equal, she invites us to notice the natural rhythms of our bodies and lives. Her idea of Energetic Scaffolding reframes burnout not as personal failure but as misalignment.
What struck me most was her insistence that wisdom is not just knowledge. It is integration. Living what we claim to know. Designing a life that honors capacity instead of constantly overriding it.
If you have ever tried to plan your way out of exhaustion, this piece will meet you with both gentleness and clarity.
Epistemic Hygiene
Thaddeus Howze | The Cognitive Dissident
This piece explores what happens when we can no longer trust what we see, hear, or read—deepfakes, algorithmic feeds, information flooding. The result is not just confusion but collective exhaustion.
Howze argues that we now need something called epistemic hygiene. This is a term I was unfamiliar with. It is a disciplined practice of verifying, cross-checking, and slowing down our reactions in a digital world designed to provoke instant emotional responses.
It made me think about how easy it is to mistake constant stimulation for awareness when it may actually be eroding our ability to think clearly. Truthfully, I believe this is happening all day long and is very harmful.
Digital Distraction: The Slow Shift in Modern Relationships
Manprett Hayer | The Success Code 5
This reflection looks at the quiet ways our devices compete with intimacy. Not dramatic betrayals. Just small moments of divided attention that accumulate over time. I related to it all.
A glance at a screen mid-conversation.
A notification during dinner.
A habit of half-listening.
Hayer suggests that modern relationships are not only strained by conflict but by fragmentation of presence. The essay gently reminds us that intimacy is built through sustained attention and that presence may be the rarest gift we can offer each other.
It is a tender and necessary read.
Choosing Presence in a Noisy World
Distraction rarely announces itself.
It slips in quietly. It looks like busyness. It feels like urgency. It disguises itself as productivity, information, or even connection.
And yet, when I sit still long enough to notice, I can see how easily my energy scatters, how quickly my attention fragments, and how much intention it takes to stay present to my own life.
This week reminded me that focus is not just about getting things done. It is about choosing where my mind lives. Choosing what gets my best attention. Choosing the people, ideas, and moments worthy of my full presence.
That kind of attention feels sacred. And increasingly rare.
If these pieces do anything, I hope they invite you to pause. To notice what is pulling at you. And to gently reclaim your energy, your clarity, and your presence.
We deserve to live awake inside our own lives.
Book club for 30 years, wow.
Adding all of these to my tbr. Thank you for including me!