Fat of the Land – Issue #10: Perpetual Motion & the Meaning Machine

Humans are never not wanting for something.

Money, food, water, love, sex…we are insatiable creatures, always left wanting more.

Lets chew some fat on this topic, shall we?

Let’s start with the obvious:

You’re always chasing something.

A good night’s sleep. A text back. A raise. A feeling. A sandwich.

Some days you want peace and quiet.

Other days you want craziness and carbs.

Welcome to the human condition:

You are a perpetual motion machine, powered by coffee, curiosity, and unresolved childhood trauma.

🔄 The Motion Never Stops (And Neither Do You)

Even when you’re lying on the couch with Netflix asking if you’re still watching,

something inside you is still moving.

Maybe it’s your brain rehashing that thing you said in 2012.

Maybe it’s your heart quietly whispering “Is this all there is?”

Maybe it’s your gut screaming “Don’t trust that guy, his eyebrows are too confident.”

Either way, the engine hums.

That motion—that low-grade buzzing we call existence—is driven by desire.

And the weird little wrench in the gears?

Confusion. Curiosity. Perplexity.

The questions we ask when we’re a little lost are often the ones that make us move.

🧠 Confusion Is Not a Glitch. It’s the Spark.

Confusion gets a bad rap. It makes us feel slow. Weak. Behind.

But let me tell you something:

Confusion is your brain’s way of saying,

“We’re not done here.”

It’s the feeling right before the breakthrough.

The stretch before the step.

The loading bar of personal growth.

We act like we’re supposed to have life figured out by age 25.

But most of us are just better at hiding how confused we are.

Confusion is the ignition switch.

So when you feel it?

Don’t panic.

Lean in.

Ask better questions.

(And maybe drink some water. You’re probably dehydrated.)

🧭 The Trouble with Never Stopping

Now here’s where it gets tricky.

Because while all this motion is beautiful—

it’s also exhausting.

There’s a difference between momentum and meltdown.

Between driven and derailed.

You can’t run full speed on purpose alone.

Eventually, the machine overheats.

Trust me-I have been there as an addict, a father, a student, a worker-all of the above

And the stress level is absolute chaos and calamity.

And that’s when you find yourself snapping at your kid for chewing too loud, or thinking a wellness retreat in Iceland might fix your marriage, or panic-buying a bonsai tree you’re definitely not emotionally stable enough to care for.

⚙️ When the Machine Overheats

How to Keep Going Without Imploding

Let’s get practical. You’re not falling apart or blowing uo—you’re just maxed out.

Here’s how to channel the crazy without becoming it:

1. Name What’s Actually Driving You

Get honest. What’s under the hood?

Is it ambition? Approval? Fear of being average? Fear of being found out?

Half the time we think we’re chasing goals, but we’re really chasing ghosts.

The moment you name it, you take back the wheel.

Use Valves, Not Cages

Don’t try to bottle it up. It’ll explode sideways.

Instead, redirect the pressure into something useful.

• Craving control? Clean a drawer.

• Want to disappear? Go walk where no one knows your name (or your browser history).

• Feeling wild? Paint. Write. Scream into a pillow like a responsible adult.

Let the energy move through you, not just at you.

Trade Routines for Rhythms

Rigid routines make you feel like a robot.

Rhythms let you adapt.

Maybe you write every morning… unless your kid’s sick.

Maybe you exercise daily… even if that means dancing in the kitchen shirtless with a mop.

Rhythms bend. Routines break.

You need a system that moves with you, not against you.

Let Today Be Enough

You don’t need to fix your life by 5 p.m.

You don’t need to find your life’s purpose by the weekend.

You can grow without grinding.

You can heal without hurrying.

Start with this:

• Drink some water.

• Eat something warm.

• Text someone who gets it.

• Tell your nervous system it’s not under attack.

Progress isn’t always forward.

Sometimes it’s just gentler.

So What Do We Do With All This Wanting?

We keep moving. But we move smarter.

We stop pretending the confusion is failure.

We stop worshipping burnout like it’s a badge of honor.

We start listening to the rhythm inside us—the one that says:

“You don’t have to know everything to be going somewhere good.”

You are a perpetual motion machine.

But you are not a machine.

You’re a story in motion.

A mess in motion.

A meaning-maker.

And if today that motion just looks like staying sober, being kind, or not ghosting your therapist?

Then you’re doing more than fine.

Stay in the motion. Stay in the meaning.

And if you forget what you’re chasing—just come back here.

We’re all figuring it out.

Together.

—Jason