Take Five Under the Live Oak
Everybody I spoke to today said they're extremely stressed out.
^ I just took that.
I’m sitting under a massive Southern live oak writing this entire Substack from my phone for the first time ever.
Spanish moss hanging off the branches, zero laptop in sight, actual sunlight touching my skin.
Did some breathing exercises, stretches, that sort of thing.
Deep thought and then no thought at all.
What are we getting at here..?
I’ll tell you what:
Four different people told me today, in one way or another, that they’re overwhelmed.
“I’m extremely stressed out”
Some sounded more panicked than others, but the underlying unease was unanimous.
I don’t blame them one bit.
A thought hit me this morning while browsing Twitter/X and having my morning coffee that unknowingly foretold this:
We seriously have reached unnecessary information critical mass.
Drake dropped three albums at midnight. (they were mid 😔)
The government is blowing up cartel courier boats and posting the highlights in thermal vision.
Every third tweet is about recession indicators, AI replacing jobs, blah blah blah.
You’ll never find love if you’ve had too much sex, and you’ll never find love if you don’t know how to have sex.
You’re too skinny, you need to bulk up…but don’t get fat and bloated, remember- lean is law!
“Oh but John, Elon bought X and that’s why it’s a disaster and…”
Okay.
Let’s look at IG:
Reel of a vacation out of your budget.
Buy the product!
Dude with an 8 pack clearly on anabolics.
Otherworldly Pilates girl who might be AI-generated.
Buy the product!
Buy the product!
Actually funny Reel that would get you fired if you liked it.
"“Well just delete social media then”
See….
It’s the second order effects of modern information overload that we’re dealing with.
Be the change you want to see in the world is my favorite quote ever, but unplugging from multi-billion dollar platforms specifically engineered to keep you on a consumption and dopamine loop is just not going to make a single difference in the fact that almost everyone you know and love is on the same psychological treadmill.
(I love ranting on Fridays and I love run on sentences bc you know I’m not using AI)
This is more observational than actionable- if I were to try and cook up some counter movement to social media information overload and brain rot en masse, it would be both:
A. probably 25,000 words
B. sadly, wholly ineffective
Back to the Oak Tree
I’m certainly feeling a lot better since I came out here to sit down.
It’s cool that nature is largely unchanged in a lot of ways.
This tree probably pre-dates me by a hundred years and will outlive me by a hundred too.
Everyone should do this- a tree, a garden, walking path, the beach.
I think it’s almost a necessity at this point.
It takes a little time, sure…but that Sunday screen time report says you got 7 hours and 37 minutes a day you can cut into to make the time.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction..
Maybe that’s what this is.
It’s scientific.
“Nature chilling” as we’re going to call…it’s rudimentary.
Primitive or maybe even childish.
Doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary.
You’re not supposed to see 10 people die, 5 reasons why your boyfriend secretly doesn’t love you, and be sold 2 MLM scams before you’ve finished your morning coffee.
That’s incredibly unnatural.
So this offers the perfect counterweight.
It’s just fighting the extreme with the extremes at this point.
Tree Time is Over
Probably sounded like I was gonna pitch a tent and live out here at a certain point there 😭
Nah.
I got my own stuff to handle and work on tonight.
(Usage rate limited on Claude for another 2.5 hours tho 🙄)
However, I definitely feel calmer, freer.
I’ll do better work tonight as a result, no doubt.
Hopefully this helped, but there’s probably some of you that will think this was bordering on stupid hippie BS.
In that case, I’d implore you call up the most “hippie-adjacent” person you know.
They’ll probably have a lot to say.
You know what you won’t hear, though?
I’m extremely stressed out….
See you on Sunday.
🫶🏻
-John Abbate
5/15/2026