‘citron pressé, s’il vous plait‘, i asked the waiter.
my insta is full of girls claiming how zero alcohol has drastically improved their lives.
better sleep, better skin and a flat belly.
they know because they track everything.
hours of deep sleep, macros and micros for longevity or if you run in zone two or three.
i have never been kpi/number driven. and i dont really understand numbers.
but i get basic stuff like when you are about to order some wine.
‘if we are going to have more than a glass each, we should order a bottle’, i used to say.
anyways, it happened very organically. ‘i think i have never seen you drinking water’, S. said.
it was true. but then i discovered Perrier. ‘is this part of you trying to become a Gen z?’, she laughed.
made me think about Gen Z and how they are having fun nowadays.
Barry’s at 8am, pilates, matcha, skincare and some Netflix.
most of these activities are done alone. and i wonder if this thing we call ‘me time‘, is not isolating us.
‘what do you think about self-optimisation?’, i asked M.
‘i dont enjoy going to the gym. this thing about having more energy or endorphins, dont happen to me. i go to the gym to be able to eat’, M. said.
most of the people i know go to the gym alone. sometimes there are exceptions.
but i have never experienced a friend telling me the most honest truth around an avocado toast and a matcha after pilates.
if we dont drink anymore, what are the windows to lose yourself?
‘i went the other day for an afterwork drink with my colleagues. any of them drink’, T. said. ‘it was like the same office vibes but in a terrace. i never went again’, she concluded.
‘i bought a Fitbit. and my bad sleep quality is damaging me’, Z. said.
‘i can do a quick catch-up if we are done by 8 pm’, R. texted me. i am tracking my sleep and i need to be in bed by 9 pm.
it’s everywhere, i thought. this gives you 2 hours of post-office life per day.
the more stressed we are, the more we retired ourselves looking for self-care and keep kpis on track.
looks like wellness is the new house arrest.
home is the first place, work is the second, and the third is anywhere informal where you simply show up.
third spaces are normally linked to spontaneity. and they are good to decompress.
third spaces have slowly disappeared of the cities. in Paris they are having a big come back.
canal saint Martin. or the quais. all the cute small green squares where people are doing picnic with some rose.
there’s nothing to track there. or maybe yes. the real conversations you have.
‘spain has one of the biggest life expectancy, and nobody tracks anything. it’s gazpacho, siesta, 10k steps without counting them and saying yes to have a drink’, B. said.
my happiest and funniest memories are around third places. that’s the data i keep.
talking to strangers, improvising, loosen up, laughing about the non-sense.
to do so we need some drinks, some frites, and probably lose some hour of sleep with the consequence of having something to tell the day after.
‘i think i was hungover the whole day during my FITs’, F. said.
‘same for me, after a year of Perrier, i called a sick day’, i answered.
‘the other day i saw a girl walking in the street with a beer and smoking a cigarette. it gave me hope in humanity’, L. said.
almost everybody’s personality gets better and funnier with a couple drinks.
it’s like a pact. you are ok to lose a bit of control. you are ok with being vulnerable and opening up.
wellness is punishing alcohol and a night out because they haven’t found an angle to monetise it yet.
it’s different with drugs.
now drugs are ok because they have the power to heal us.
‘me and my wife started micro-dosing a couple months ago’, a tech guru told us during a dinner at Cannes. ‘it’s called mindful micro-dosing and it’s good for neuroplasticity and serotonin’, he concluded.
‘i am eager to try’, another CEO of a start-up said. you can also micro-dose with LSD for better mood and creativity’, he said.
and here we are. we were raised with these things being criminalised and now they are part of healing retreats sponsored in instagram.
ketamine in a rave is something our mothers would be worried about. but now at the shrink is dissociative therapy. it’s a breakthrough.
maybe night culture always got it right. dancing in a club with strangers was doing the same thing that now wellness retreats are trying to sell us.
and madonna is claiming it again. everybody get up and dance.
i dont know if the nights where we lose control twice per week will be back.
maybe, instead of that, we will have Fitbit sending us a notification saying ‘it’s time for a ketamine bump’.
maybe she’s born with it. or maybe it’s ketamine.