Dustsuckers, Middle States, and Marathons

Ferg's Focus Vol. 26

Author

Charles Ferguson
October 8th, 2024

My writing muscles are atrophying the less frequently I use them. Somehow, staying on top of this newsletter was easier amid excursions into Patagonia, cow-feeding sessions on a Brazilian farm, and swinging from a hammock over the Amazon River than it is staying put in Buenos Aires.

That chapter spent flitting between destinations was probably busier than my current state. However, my life feels richer here in Buenos Aires despite my considerable drop in stimulating experiences and adventures (which might explain my correlated dip in writing production).

A busy life does not beget a fulfilling one.

Writing into Form

I experimented with a new writing style in my most recent travel narrative. It’s a prose I haven’t quite harnessed but had fun attempting. Dare I say, it was my favorite story to write in 2024.

Unexpectedly, this one has gotten a lot of love since publication, too. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The Don and the Drifter

A young traveler and an Argentine cafe owner reflect on language, travel, and missed opportunities during their quiet encounters in Salta.

The Middle Station of Life

English novelist and author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe on the paradox of finding familiar routines abroad (excerpt shortly following Crusoe’s settling in Brazil from Britain):

I was gotten into an employment quite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my father’s house, and broke through all his good advice; nay, I was coming into the very middle station, or upper degree of low life, which my father advised me to before; and which, if I resolved to go on with, I might as well have stayed at home, and never have fatigued myself in the world as I had done. And I used often to say to myself, I could have done this as well in England among my friends, as have gone 5,000 miles off to do it among strangers… in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.

Daniel Defoe (1719)

Reflections on a Marathon

Running sucks.

It sucks because it’s difficult.

And like most difficult things, running can reveal applicable lessons to other things that suck.

This latest experience taught me five:

5 Universal Lessons From Marathon Training

I recently ran my first marathon—a grueling experience that left me with far more than just cramped quadriceps and a medal. For three months, I ran 3 to 8 miles during the week, with Sundays reserved for steadily increasing long runs. The mindset required for marathon training mirrors the mentality needed to tackle many of life’s challenges…

Thanks for reading Ferg’s Focus! My goal is to share the occasional glimpse of life on the road and the thoughts/lessons that come to me from it. If you learn something along the way, then I’m even better off.

To support this newsletter and its corresponding stories, you can buy me a coffee (see footer) or share this newsletter with your friends/family/secondary email account via the link below.

Until the next,

-Ferg

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