“I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it. “
— Ernest Hemingway
Dear friends,
I was rummaging through my bookshelf and spotted one of my favourite books - A Moveable Feast - when I stumbled across the line above, double undermarked in two different colours.
It struck me that the novelist understands the task of what they are doing more than most.
Let me explain.
We live in a culture of incompletion.
Tasks self-replicate.
Deadlines bleed into one another.
And the full stop flirts with extinction.
The world of content reflects this.
As consumers, we scroll indefatigably then wonder why we feel so exhausted.
We start out of curiosity, but our energy drains and we are left empty.
What was it I was looking for again?
The treasure at the end of the rainbow disappears, and we wonder why we are chasing something that never actually existed in the first place.
Equally, as content creators, we swim in a never-ending stream of content. Things are made, posted, and disappear.
Then, the game of self-perpetuating amnesia begins again.
It’s a cycle that never stops. Our consciousoness has become the marketplace. And its saturated.
Hemingway offers two antidotes to this modern state of scroll, search, repeat:
1. Give Yourself a Gift for Tomorrow
The first is Hemingway’s determination to give himself a gift for tomorrow.
In the book, we find him as a young man, newlywed and making his way in 20s Paris:
“I always worked until I had something done, and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next.”
This idea, of holding something back is curiously alien to us, moderns.
Ours is a culture of grind — one that tells us to leave it all on the pitch.
We follow its dictates because YouTube is full of false prophets parroting the same mantra.
I doubt that they’ve had the time to read A Moveable Feast.
Or written something as good.
Yes, to work hard is a valuable ethos.
But burnout, premature ageing, and gnarly cynicism weren’t the laurels we aimed for.
Hemingway counters this by determining to hold something back.
He doesn’t write until dawn.
He stops just as he knows where to go next—and then gives himself over to life.
After one writing session, always in a smoky cafe:
It was necessary to get exercise, to be tired in the body, and it was very good to make love with whom you loved. That was better than anything. But afterwards, when you were empty, it was necessary to read in order not to think or worry about your work until you could do it again.
Hemingway determines, not just to leave his work behind, but to give himself over to life, in all its forms.
To leave work was not just a decision, but an active choice.
When everything blurs—personal into professional, day into night—this is a timeless reminder from a different age.
2. Create a Full Stop for Your Spirit
Today, we rarely leave work behind. We wake with the nagging worry of yet another task unfinished.
We must guardrail our spirit.
Hemingway says:
Do this by giving yourself the gift of a full stop.
This doesn’t just apply to closing the page on today’s work—it’s a way of affirming tomorrow.
For me, because my life pivots between film and music, each day ends with gear everywhere.
When I’m tired and ready to snooze, I try and put a couple of things away that usually I would have left out. It makes an unexpected space which I can walk into tomorrow. And every morning I’m grateful for it.
Life, not as continuing yesterday, but as starting today.
It’s the difference between slogging through a never-ending work hangover and leaping into the revelation of dawn.
Simply put:
Whatever makes you feel fresher is worth leaning into.
At the end of each day:
Let one thing stay in yesterday
Leave a trail to follow tomorrow
Commit to a period of presentness, whatever that means to you
I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think I if I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.
Have a great weekend and see you next week,
Love
Jim
A video exploring Mahalla where my office is based.
In it, a glimpse into Berlin’s Artweek and a fellow contemplating Kafka
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