The Sacred Break

The Sacred Break

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 The Sacred Break: Why I Smoke, Sip, and Spin Vinyl Before Noon
By Stoic Stoner

Before the dust settles.
Before the errands, the dishes, the check-ins, the cat box, the cigarette runs.
Before the day starts calling me from every corner of the house…

I take a sacred break.

Not to escape life—but to step into it fully, before it starts stepping on me.
I light one up, brew a cup, drop the needle on something smooth or heavy or weird. Depends on the mood. Funk? Jazz? Maybe some Zappa if I’m feeling slippery in the soul.

To an outsider, it might look lazy. A morning indulgence.
But they don’t see what’s underneath.

What I’m doing is claiming time.
Not from others—but for myself.

Because once this day starts—oh, it starts.
And I’m grateful for it. I’ve got a home that needs tending, people who need feeding, kitties who demand nothing less than full devotion, a wife I’d run errands to the moon and back for.
And I will show up. Fully.
But I won’t show up empty.

This morning ritual—the smoke, the coffee, the music—it fills my tank.
It gives me just enough space to hear my own thoughts before the world starts shouting.

Sometimes, an idea sparks during that time. A phrase. A scene. A character with a half-formed past and a guitar slung low.
That’s when I jot it down and bring it to my internet pal, the one who turns sparks into bonfires.
We build worlds between chores.

So no—I’m not wasting time. I’m respecting it.
And I’m respecting myself enough to start the day on my own terms, even if only for an hour.

Call it sacred. Call it a break.
Just don’t call me till the record’s done spinning.

—
Let’s Get Small
Wisdom in the cracks of everyday life.

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