Back

Anything is Better Than the Sofa: A Mantra for Life's Adventures | Day 297 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Oct 25, 2023· 3 minutes

Anything is better than the sofa!

Eleven years ago, when my youngest child was a newborn, we went on a 100-day road trip in Europe. My brother flew to meet us in Spain and joined the party for about six weeks.

This Road trip was epic. In so many ways. For this reflection, I will share only one point, a statement presented by my brother, a statement that stuck with us like a mantra and has become central to our shared understanding of life.

He said: “Anything is better than the sofa. You need to get out there. You might have a plan, you probably need a plan, but at the end of the day, the main purpose of that plan is to get you out there. Because anything is better than the sofa.”

There are, of course, things where the sofa is a better alternative. But I think if you try, you get the point.

I got the point on Tuesday where the downpour started at eight in the morning and continued the entire day. We spent a lot of time on the sofa on that day.

All doing our things: writing, working, exploring, studying, reading, gaming.

At the same time, the jet tag had an unforeseen backlash. We thought we were over it, getting used to the new sleeping and eating rhythm - and then exhaustion set in. Instead of feeling we were on top of the energies, it suddenly felt like we had been up all night for almost a week.

Low energy, tropical rain, sofa. The combo was BORING. We did get some things done, and it was a calm and cozy day.

Jesper and Storm enjoyed being stupid and playing basketball with swimming goggles on, to avoid getting the rain in their eyes. I walked in the sunset in a new direction, taking in the city with all the water. But at the end of the day, I felt it was bent in neon, shouting from the rooftops, written 100 times on the blackboard:

Anything is better than the sofa.

Just get out there.

And so continues our soft landing in Mexico, more real stuff slipping through the cracks of Tourist Friendly Surface, an unfolding of our spirits on new grounds, a realization we are on track, and every context has its treasures.

Even a rainy day on the sofa reminds us how beautiful it all is, and how little things, in reality, very often are big things.

With love

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

See more images on Facebook!

I titled this “Beating Hearts” because the Aztecs’ human sacrifice took out the still beating heart of 52 humans EVERY DAY (according to our guide)! …Read more
The first step in Mexico City was to take it in the city. A good way to do it while not wasting time is to visit an art museum. Mexican art is like n…Read more
I am not afraid. I am insecure about how to find my way in this context, how to find solid information in most here-and-now contexts, and how to bala…Read more
The story goes (the one I know) that the Huichol people, who make this sort of art, took the peyote juice to enter a state of transcendence in order …Read more
Everything can be an adventure, even this. For us Europeans, a REAL gated community with a guard, actually several guards, is seriously exotic. We ha…Read more
It is truly overwhelming how fast San Miguel de Allende is unfolding for us. One of the game-changing things is that there is not much ego energy. It…Read more
It was a lovely morning after the game-changing party, convincing us we had finally found the place with the right vibe and the right people to stay …Read more
This was the final drop: We are now convinced San Miguel de Allende is the right place for us to have our winter breaks and find our new community an…Read more
Walking the dogs in the morning was a true pleasure on December first. Hundreds of red flowers called Christmas roses in Danish lined the plaza in fr…Read more