Mariana Martinez Bedoya · Author of Just Be

What would you do
with nothing to prove?

Sixty-two gentle rebellions against the optimized life — to be read slowly, preferably horizontal.

Read Just Be Try a practice
↓  unhurry yourself  ↓
From the book · page 41
“What gets measured gets managed. Let this one stay wild.”

I tracked my rest the way other people track macros. Restfulness: 6/10. Useless. Some things die the moment you put a spreadsheet on them — your nap is not a KPI.

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Practices

Small rituals, kept slowly

Five tiny practices from the book. Most are shorter than brewing tea.

90 seconds

Aspetta

Do nothing, on purpose, until the circle stills.
5 minutes

One Cup, Nothing Else

A hot drink. A chair. No screen. That's the whole thing.
10 minutes

The Window Watch

Sit by glass and let the world perform for you.
One walk

The Boredom Walk

No headphones, no destination, five small noticings.
A keepsake

The Permission Slip

Write your name on it. Print it. Mean it.
A keepsake

Your permission slip

For grey afternoons when rest feels unearned. Keep it where you'll see it at 3pm.

Permission Slip

To do nothing, beautifully

lovingly granted to

 

Rest is not a reward. It is the ground
everything else grows from.

M. Martinez BedoyaJust Be · 2026
Just Be: Sixty-Two Ways to Do Nothing — book cover
The book

Sixty-two pages.
Zero homework.

Each page is one complete thought: open anywhere, close whenever. Written for people who are very tired of optimizing themselves, by a woman who optimized herself into exhaustion and wrote the book that talked her back down.

“A small book about the most radical act in an optimized age: sitting still, on purpose, without guilt.” — from the back cover
Get it on Kindle · £2.96

Also on Kindle Unlimited · Published September 2026

The journal

Notes

Essays that wander off from the book and find their own way home — plus field notes from a life documented lazily.

20 Sep

Optimized is not the same as well.

On enough

5 Sep

I walk without a podcast now. Send help (don't)

Field note · On enough

17 Aug

The Sunday I cancelled everything and told no one

Field note · On rest

29 Jul

Enough is a decision, not a destination

On enough

14 Jul

What gets measured gets managed. Let this one stay wild.

On enough

Browse all notes →
Mariana on a hammock
The author

A few words about Mariana

No certificates, no teacher training, no app to sell you. I am someone who optimized herself into exhaustion, then wrote the book that talked her back down.

For a while I tracked everything. The numbers were excellent and I was tired, and that arithmetic is the whole reason this book exists. I still track. My sleep has a score. I still reach for the phone in queues. I am not cured and I do not claim to be, I am just better at ignoring the voice that says an unmeasured walk does not count.

Find me daily, gently, at @in_the_name_of_youth

Correspondence

The Slow Letter

One slow note a week — a thought from the book, a story from my kitchen. Never a productivity tip. Leave whenever; I'll take it as self-care.