I had been having a bit of a bad time mentally recently. We are now (at the time of writing) a little over two weeks into the new year. I was incredibly optimistic going into 2024 and then a couple of harsh reality checks began to bombard me both internally and externally. I am grateful for it though. I have to be. I am a stoic and one of the ideas that is associated with stoicism is the idea of “amor fati”, or a “love of fate”. Due to this, I have no choice but to not only accept anything that stands in my way but also love it. I am being a bit facetious, but this is something I am trying to get better at this year.

I didn’t handle these obstacles in the best way if I am being honest. It’s all well and good to read about these ideas but applying them in your own life is a challenge all by itself. I don’t want to get into the specifics but let’s just say that there has been a bit of conflict, again, both internally and externally in my life. All is well now. I knew it would be. It’s just a part of life. I always know, in the moment, that it won’t last forever, so I white-knuckle it until it’s over. I have my go-to remedies for when life gets like this. One of these is walking.

I walk like a son of a gun. I don’t walk nearly as much as I should (we will thank Gary the car for that) and forgot the peace and clarity that it gives me; until recently. I reconnected with a time in my life that I hadn’t connected to in far too long. I am talking about revisiting podcasts. I am sure I get the same feeling when I listen to music I haven’t listened to in a while. I think they call that nostalgia. I went on a bit of a crazy podcast-listening phase back in the day and still do from time to time. One of my favourite podcasts to listen to was Distraction Pieces with Scroobius Pip. He’s a former rapper and poet and is now a podcaster and actor. I love the man if that isn’t too strong a word. The reason is that we have so much in common as people.

Pip’s podcast hosts a plethora of different types of guests. He could be interviewing an A-list celebrity one week and the next week he could be interviewing a former refugee. He is so good at interviewing so many people from so many different backgrounds. Like I said, we have a lot in common. He used to be a rapper in a group called dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip. He was a spoken word poet alongside that and released solo material as well. He is a wrestling fan and has interviewed many wrestlers on his podcast. He is also a movie buff and goes to the cinema constantly. Do you see? Those are three things there that I also dabble in. I got the opportunity to speak to him one-on-one once. He is also a nice guy, which helps a lot.

Walking in the woods and listening to Pip’s podcast brought me back to a time when I was starting to figure out who I was as a person and having Pip come into my life at that time was quite serendipitous.

If you haven’t listened to his podcast, you should. It comes out every Wednesday. If you haven’t listened to his music, maybe give that a go too. That’s all I have to say today. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you for reading. Thank you, Scroobius Pip. Thank you for your time.