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I Planned a Year of Doing Nothing. I Took 19 Flights Instead. [Summer Read-Aloud]
31st August 2026 • On Your Terms® • Sam Vander Wielen
00:00:00 00:12:17

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My gap year was supposed to be boring. Instead I've taken 19 flights before summer even ended, and somehow I still feel more rested than I have in years.

This episode is part of my summer read-aloud series, where I'm sharing personal essays straight from my Substack. This one's about what happened when the "spacious, do-nothing" gap year I planned turned into a calendar full of tennis lessons, swim classes, and last-minute flights, and why I had to stop judging myself for it.

In this episode, you'll hear…

  • Why I planned a year of "blank space" and ended up busier than ever, just in a totally different way
  • The real difference between being chronically online and busy versus chronically offline and busy (and why one feels so much better than the other)
  • What happens to my brain, my relationships, and my sense of reality when I spend too much time online
  • The moment I realized what I was actually feeling wasn't guilt about overcommitting. It was judgment

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

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