Empty Your Cup Is Back! 🍵

And so is your daily dose of balance — if you want it to be

What does “balance” mean to you?

After 32 years of life and 4 months of writing a daily newsletter about it, I have to admit: I still don’t know — and I think I’m not alone.

Balance is a fascinating topic. It’s been a dominant thread of global discussion for the entire 21st century. It’s something everyone has an idea of and an opinion about, and yet, at the same time, few people can even give a well-formulated definition of what it means — if only to them. Fewer still manage to live up to their definition of balance.

As it turns out, balance is something everyone thinks they know and need, yet almost no one actually does. But where does that leave us?

First of all, it leaves us with…

Hi! It’s Nik again! 👋🏻

Maybe you’ve noticed yesterday’s and today’s posts in your inbox. The Universe in Your Hand and Time Billionaire.

After I asked for some help with the Empty Your Cup book last week, and some of you kindly replied with your thoughts, I decided to take my friend Ovi’s — and what is often my own — advice: Just start.

“You should start sending out the book chapters as emails again right now,” he told me. “That way, you’ll build momentum, have accountability, and get some feedback.”

He was right, of course — so here I am!

From here on out, Empty Your Cup will deliver a daily dose of balance right to your inbox again.

The daily themes will be the same as they were back in 2019, when this project initially started:

• Monday Zen

• Gratituesday

• Forgiveness Wednesday

• Thought Experiment Thursday

• No Sense Friday

• Surprise Saturday

• Slow Down Sunday

Since the Empty Your Cup book will be a daily read with the same weekly recurring themes, covering a full year’s worth of reminders to live a balanced life, each post is a potential book chapter.

So, whatever you think of a particular email, please: Make your voice heard. I’m including a simple poll at the end of each email, which you can vote on with a single click, and of course you can also comment, like, or hit reply to any email.

Of course, a lot has happened since 2019. Like, a lot a lot.

If you no longer wish to join me on this journey for whatever reason, simply hit Unsubscribe at the bottom of this email (there’s no button, otherwise I would have offered one).

If you decide to stay, however, be it because you’re curious, a longtime reader, or simply want more balance in your life, know that I’ll be honored and do the best I can to help us answer the question from the beginning together:

What does “balance” truly mean, and how can we attain it?

I can’t wait to find out with you, but for now, this is what I’ve learned since starting to re-engage with this idea: Back when I chose the theme and story for this newsletter — Bruce Lee’s “Empty your cup” analogy, I intuitively grasped at something I didn’t yet fully understand.

Now, it is dawning on me that perhaps balance is not so much a finite state, an end result we must try to achieve and then maintain, but a daily practice — the never-ending act of balancing, responding to life’s constant changes and challenges with open-mindedness, curiosity, and flexibility.

From that angle, it doesn’t matter whether you perfectly spread your hours between work, socializing, health, and relaxation. It only matters that you approach each day with calm, inquisitiveness, and the ability to change your mind.

At the very least until the book is out, and perhaps beyond, that’s what this newsletter is for — and it’ll remain 100% free for the time being.

If you want more info about the project and its slight adjustment in direction, you can read the updated About page here or hit reply and ask away. Otherwise, this shall be all from me for now.

I remain, as always, your email friend. I’ll see you in your inbox, and remember to…

Empty your cup,
-Nik