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The Fat Bear Pause

by Ben Reinking
Oct 04, 2025
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I was obsessed with Fat Bear Week. Chunk, picture below, was the 1200 lb 2025 champion.

fat bear week

 

If you're not familiar with it, there's a wildlife camera positioned at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska, that films brown bears feasting on salmon during their summer run. What started as a local celebration has become a global phenomenon, hundreds of thousands of people log on each October to watch these magnificent animals and vote for their favorite rotund resident. The bears are HUGE. Viewers log on to watch them packing on pounds to prepare for the long winter ahead.

As I was "googling"  all things bear related, I stumbled across a fun fact:.

Bears are known to just sit and observe.

Wildlife biologists have documented it. Hikers have witnessed it. No one knows exactly why, but bears will plop themselves down at a scenic overlook and simply stare out at the world. They're not hunting. They're not foraging. They're not doing anything particularly bear-like. They're just... sitting.

We don't know if they're resting, reflecting, or truly appreciating the view.

But they do it. Regularly.

And here's what struck me: if a 1200-pound apex predator, whose survival depends on non stop eating (#lifegoals), sleeping, and ensuring the survival of the species, can find time to sit down and take in the world...

What's our excuse?

 

 

"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."

 
— John Muir

 


Your Challenge This Week

 

Channel your inner fat bear.

Find a spot outside. A park bench, your back porch, a quiet corner by a window, and just sit. Not to scroll. Not to plan. Not to solve.

Just to be.

Five minutes. No agenda. Just you and the world around you.

Notice what happens when you stop long enough to let the world come to you.


Feeling stuck, stretched thin, or like you've lost the thread? I'd love to help you find your way back. Book a free coaching consultation and let's talk about what's possible when you give yourself permission to pause.

 

To embracing your inner fat bear,

 

Ben

Book A Coaching Consult 

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