Phuck the side hustle I started to impress people who never checked
MONEY · 9h ago
Two things happen here. You name it. You leave it.
PUT IT DOWN.
Name the one thing you are done carrying. It gets shredded on the way in, pinned to the wall on the way out — and then you get handed one small thing to do instead. Putting down is only half of it.
The wall
Other people's weightThe pick-up table
Small enough to do todayTake one. There is no streak to keep, no account to make, and nothing checks up on you. The count under each tile is just other people who took the same one.
Write down what the money was actually for.
MONEY
Say the number out loud to someone you trust.
MONEY
Ask what the rate is. Asking has never cost anyone anything.
MONEY
Open the account you have not looked at. Just look.
MONEY
Cancel one subscription you have not opened in a month.
MONEY
Something worked for you? Leave it for the next person.
The tally
Everything this place has been told to phuck
3
people have walked in
12
things told to phuck off
367
times somebody said "same"
647
small things picked up instead
99
words fed to the shredder
52 kg
of weight nobody is carrying now
3
showed up today
3
in the room right now
Most things get put down around midnight. Of course they do.
The heaviest thing on the wall — Phuck the group chat I have muted for eleven months
— 58 people said the same.
The move people reach for most — Pick the smallest version of the plan and start that one instead.
— taken 48 times.
Streaks broken: 0. There are none to break.
Weight is made up — everything weighs 4.3 kg, we checked. Every other number here is counted.
Phuck what?
Pick the one that is yoursPhuck that is not giving up. It is putting down.
You can respect a thing and still refuse to carry it.
Put one thing down. Pick one small thing up. That is the whole trade.
The wall is other people's weight. It is lighter out loud.
Nothing here gets solved. It gets named, dropped, and swapped for a move.
Come back the day it feels heavy again. The table is always set.