Let The Wine Breathe

The Decoded | November 2025 | By Lisanne

7.11

The empty space in a wine bottle isn’t wasted.

It’s what lets the wine taste extraordinary.

Too much of it, and the wine oxidizes; it spoils, turning bitter and dull. Too little, and it stays locked up, stubborn, never reaching its extraordinary potential.

The wine bottle is our metaphor.

It is the buffer against the inevitable pressure that comes from an unpredictable world.

The first instinct is to fill the bottle to the very top. Maximum yield. Always productive, always give.

However, space matters more than we think:

A morning meditation clears your mind so you can take on the day.

A run wakes up your body and releases the tension you didn’t notice.

A quiet walk, a cup of tea, a moment of journaling — all these are the air that creates the conditions in which we can show up fully.

Without them, we are compressed, dull, and reactive.

With them, we are expansive, deliberate, alive.

It’s the air that lets the wine breathe. It’s the wine’s ullage where the aging and refining happens.

So,

What we surround ourselves with, or expose ourselves to ultimately determines what we’re capable of giving.

Thanks for reading! The journal prompt of today:

What are you exposing yourself to daily — people, habits, ideas — and how are they shaping what you give back?