Howdy Dudes!
It’s been a while since ‘ol Duder broken out the digital pen and paper and drafted any sort of message to you all. It’s been an interesting year. Busy, somewhat fruitful. Hope you all had a pleasant or at least tolerable 2025.
It’s December 31, 2025. The last day of this year. Reflection is an important practice if we ever hope to learn and improve each year. Looking back over 2025 I can say there were some lessons learned. Here’s a quick list of things this Dude suggests for you to consider in 2026.
1. When life gets tough, it’s easy to say, “Ah fuck it Dude…let’s go bowlin’.”
This seems to be Walter’s credo. While absolutely appropriate in some situations, there are times that it’s important to keep trying. Stuff sucks sometimes. Bunny will kidnap herself, Nihilists will want to cut off your Johnson and aggression toward foreign countries will always be afoot. In the movies, going bowling is a nice segue between scenes. In life, you can’t just cut away and change the subject. You sometimes have to keep working at it, keep trying to make the situation better, repair that relationship, work until you figure it out. Having Da Fino persistence can payoff. Keep chasing, keep following, keep working hard until you find a solution (and the Knudsen’s daughter).
2. Find a partner who will (fill in the blank)
Going it alone can work, but it’s human nature to want to find connection to other people. Our cells are trying to connect all the time. We’re reaching out trying to grow and build at a molecular level and so are our brains. Find your Walter in life. Find your Special Lady Friend. Get a Donny to call your own. Find someone who will be your advocate, a sounding board, a cheerleader, a coach and a friend. In my case, I’ve got my Special Lady Friend. We’re married, have two boys and run our business together. She’s a night owl, I’m a morning Dude. She’s a social butterfly, I’d rather sit home and watch The Big Lebowski on repeat while enjoying a Caucasian (or 4). We both work hard and have our respective strengths. We compliment each other. It’s not easy creating, nurturing and maintaining these lifelong connections, but if you go about it with a Dudeist mindset, you definitely can achieve it. If you will it, Dude, it is no dream.
3. Hey Man, it’s just a rug, ok?
Yes, yes…I know. The rug is a metaphor in the movie for the Dude’s center, his chi. He quite literally spends the bulk of his time in the flick trying to get it back. Remember though, it’s just “stuff.” Material objects can most definitely control your life. You yearn for “things” to improve your surroundings, to bring you joy when you look at them sitting on a shelf, to someday use them, only to find yourself collecting more and more “rugs” that start to bog you down and consume you. Now you’re running out of space in your humble abode. You have too much “stuff” and you spend your time moving things around, dusting, rearranging, buying organizers for your stuff and not really getting the enjoyment you thought you would when you started collecting. Aside from jelly sandals and Pendleton Westerly sweaters, as a Dude, you don’t need a lot of stuff to find your chi. Remember, “the things you own end up owning you.” – Tyler Durden, Fight Club
4. Take time to take it easy.
Purposeful, scheduled down time is crucial to maintaining Dude status. Kids, jobs, pets and the hustle and bustle of everyday, modern life can be stressful, man. That’s just the stress talkin.’ No, it’s your mind and your body telling you to chill out and take it easy, man. That’s likely why you’re reading this. You’re a Dude and you already know it’s important to relax, but often times it’s easier said than done. All I’m saying with this one is to be mindful of and respectful to yourself and your down time. Take the walk, the camping trip, sit by the shore of your favorite ocean, lake or neighborhood park. Reflect. Quietly think. Write, don’t write…it don’t matter to Jesus. Just take it easy, man. You will thank yourself for those moments of peace. Your heart will thank you. Your mind will thank you.
5. We’re only here on Earth a relatively short amount of time.
If you haven’t read Cosmos by Carl Sagan or seen the more recent adaptation of Cosmos the TV series by Seth McFarlane and hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, please plan to work those into your scheduled downtime sessions. Perspective. Perspective is what these pieces of literature and television provide to readers and viewers. The Earth has been here a long time. 4.5 billion years, roughly. And regardless of how you believe we, humans, got here, there has been life on Earth for about 3.5-4 billion of those years. Humans in the United States life an average of 78.4 years. 78 years is a blip on the cosmic calendar. Not even recognizable. Insignificant. In the grand scheme of things, our individual lives are essentially, insignificant. We will be born, live and die. Records will be kept of our accounts as we travel through space and time, but memories of those around us will fade. Friends and family will die too and soon, we’ll be another branch on the family tree with little or no recollection of who we were, what we did or said or owned or achieved in our lives. We are tiny and insignificant on a broad scale. You can, however, be a positive, helpful, influential person during your short stint here on Earth and assist those around you by showing them that they too are insignificant. That may sound harsh, but think about it. In the end, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how much money you made, the things you bought with that money or how many keys to the city you were gifted. What matters is how you treat people and how you engage with the world around you.
These 5 items are things I think about often and try to remind myself of to maintain a semblance of sanity. It’s really easy to get caught up in social media drama, real world drama, drama you can’t control or likely doesn’t really have much to do with you, on a personal level. String these lines from The Big Lebowski together in your head and think about what the Coen Brothers are trying to tell you. “It don’t matter to Jesus.” “Would you just take it easy, man.” “The Dude abides.” “…takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners out there.”
Take it easy. Relax. Abide.
Life is short. Take care of yourself, those around you and enjoy your short stay here. You’ll have to work at it, it doesn’t come easy, but you can achieve, on your deathbed, total consciousness. So you got that goin’ for ya, which is nice. – Carl
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