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I kind of hate borrowing from the military for my motivational slogans or album titles, but at the same time, ‘embrace the suck’ perfectly encapsulates, in a much more edgy and irreverent way, the idea of getting out of your own way. Stoics and Buddhists, alike, have talked about this for centuries. Except what is. Do what you can control. You can’t control much. Nobody controls much. Do the best you can – Embrace the suck!
For years, I tried to do a kinder, gentler type of new age-oriented thing. Imagery of sitting in yoga or meditation positions, lotus flowers, candles and all the holistic health tropes and those things are great, still bringing me a sense of serenity when I see that kind of imagery, but the reality is that life is much more abrupt, in your face and we have to take respite when and where we can. You might not be able to afford a trip to Esalen or the Omega Institute to center yourself, but you can put music on, take a few breaths in your car, on the subway or in a booth at Applebee’s and get in touch with yourself. In all instances, there needs to be time for YOU. Self-actualization shouldn’t require a plane trip to an exotic retreat. Hopefully, Just F*cking Relax helps with that.
"Just F*cking Relax" - Somebody said this to me recently and it kind of hit me like a Buddhist Koan, which is a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment. Anyway, a bit irreverent, but I was like, 'it's kind of that simple isn't it?' So, yeah, just f*cking relax!”
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