Less, Less, Less

how to survive in 2025 and some ramen

Jan 04, 2025

I lived in San Diego for many years in my late teens and early 20’s. I loved the beaches, the weather, the active lifestyle, and of course, the amazing Mexican food. But the pace of life there slowly drove me crazy. I wanted to hustle, to grind my life into shape, and San Diego was not the place for that. It’s a true beach city, slow and steady. San Diego has the best breakfast burritos you’ve ever had in your life ready at the crack of dawn, but don’t get confused: those are for the surfers, open sea swimmers, and early dawn runners, not people rushing off into 2-hour commutes.1 The city is built for people who are living, not constantly working. I don’t mean to make it sound like everyone is lazy there--far from it--but life is lived at a relaxed pace. People work to afford the life they want, rather than living for work. It did not appeal to me at all. I worked full-time at the grocery store, went to college full-time, double majored, graduated early, and still wanted to load more on my plate. I couldn’t wait to throw myself into the jaws of productivity culture and see how I measured up. I look back now, and feel dumb as hell.

I’m going into 2025 tired. So many of us have spent the last 20 years focused on productivity. We forgot that work won’t love us back no matter how loyal we are. I used to be so proud of my ability to endure bullshit and still churn out reliable, quality work that looked effortless. I thought if I just hit the next goal, got the next paycheck, met the next deadline, that one day my life would fall into place. I would be happy. But of course, I learned that’s a lie productivity culture loves to sell. Life and happiness actually need to be tended to. They should be your project, not whatever you do to pay the rent. Work should be the background noise of your life, not the other way around. This year, I don’t want one more goal or task to be added to my plate. Any traditional resolution is going to fail and in 2025, I’m not setting myself up for failure. Instead, I’m focusing on doing less.

We all get stuck year after year trying to do more good in the world, to be a better person, and volunteer more. It’s exhausting. What if a better goal is to do less harm? To simply do less in general? If I had spent my youth working as hard to do less harm to myself as I did toward grinding out accomplishments, I wouldn’t be entering my forties patching myself up. I’ve been putting out fires I started, and acting like I accomplished something. All of our lives are out of balance, and doing less is a radical way to start a new year. It’s time to stop igniting blazes.

Of course I saw this last time I was in San Diego

That’s my little mantra for 2025: do less. It’s a call to be more thoughtful as I move through the world. I don’t need to make a six-course meal because my family is in town; no one asked me to. I give myself projects and then feel resentful toward the people who don’t applaud my effort. Doing less means knocking that shit off. Sure, I could keep using single-use plastic stuff but there’s no amount of composting and recycling that is going to cancel all that shit out. I could just not use them and do less. This extends to everything. Don’t think you can quit eating animal products? That’s ok, but I know that you can eat less. That’s achievable, good for your health, the planet, and ultimately cheaper. That’s less harm right there. Buying lots of fast fashion? Babe, no amount of occasional thrifting is going to offset that. Do less, buy less. Everywhere I look there’s the possibility to do less, and get more life in return.

I want to look back in a few years and see how much life I lived instead of how much work I’ve done. I want memories with friends, family, great meals, and small adventures to mark the passing of years, not the projects I’ve accomplished. I want lots of dinner parties, home cooked meals, and long talks into the evening, not midnight deadlines for jobs that won’t even pay on time. Work has never loved me back. Even if I’m only able to do less in a handful of ways this year, it will still be a success. Less is less. In 2025, I’m going to start being the main character of my life. Work doesn’t deserve all that devotion. I do. We all do.

Be the main character in your life and kitchen and learn how to cook your ass off with me. This week we are building on a freezer staple and turning it into a quick weeknight ramen. Wanna taste? Right this way.