Hello dear friends,

I have two anecdotes from the most recent period of my life that I’d like to share with you. They are seemingly random, but if you’re a pretentious overthinker then you might be able find a connection between them.

I didn’t eat for 90 hours

Earlier this month, I joined a friend here in Sofia for his annual 3-day fasting period. It was one of my 2024 goals to try a 3-day fast, so I was quite pleased with this opportunity to join someone who had already experienced it.

A quick summary of the challenge:

  • Last meal: Tuesday dinner
  • First post-fast meal: Saturday lunch
  • Total: 90 hours of absolutely no food
  • Only drinking water + salt

I wish I could tell you I reached a state of profound mental clarity during the fast, but in reality nothing really occurred to me.

It reinforced the idea that I really am just a simple man.

Perhaps that can classify as my profound takeaway?

I didn’t mean it in a profound way though. All I meant is that it reinforced the idea that my body – and therefore my entire being – is a simple input-output machine.

I’ll illustrate this by my two only real concrete takeaways from the 90h fast:

  1. The fasting made me sleepy. I napped on 2 of the 3 days, which is unusual for me. But, with less fuel in the tank, my body simply needed more rest. Less fuel = less output. Simple math man.
  2. The fasting brought my bowel movement to a halt. This disappointed me tremendously as it meant I could no longer enjoy my much revered morning poops. No food in = no poop out.

You see? Super simple.

No Barber for Over a Year

It’s been over a year since I last visited a barber.

You’d be wrong to think that I’m growing my hair out. On the contrary: I’ve taken matters into my own hands. And by matters, I mean scissors.

I was inspired by Becky’s uncle Pete. Sometime last year he told me that he never goes to the barber and that he exclusively cuts his own hair (except for the back, for which he requires the assistance of aunt Sue).

I’m not entirely sure why – but I thought that was absolutely magnificent.

Perhaps it had to do with my love for autonomy, freedom, or self-reliance. Or was it related to my frugal Dutch nature? Or was it simply Pete’s coolness that convinced me? I couldn’t really pin point why I liked the idea of cutting my own hair so much.

But from that moment onward, I became my own barber.

And it’s surprisingly easy! Except for the back. I require Becky’s assistance for that.

With kind regards,

Your friend Jaer.

Post Scriptum – control

Some clever minds might be able to draw connections between the two points above and craft an insightful essay on how my generation, traumatized by the chaos of various global crises, now desperately clings to any form of control and autonomy we can find. Growing your own food, DIY trends, moving back to the countryside, obsession with health & fitness, and running marathons—they all seem like attempts to (re)gain control to me.

But I’m pretty sure there’s already many articles dedicated to such analyses.

And who am I to talk about macro trends like that anyway? It would not be very on-trend, right? I should just talk about the stuff that concerns me, things that I can control. I am a simple man after all. And by sharing these stories, I am basically illustrating the trend anyway. Or, as Tolstoy might have said: “The course of history is determined not by the will of individuals, but by the actions of the masses.”