Welcome back this week everyone, and thanks for reading.
Some snippets of some things I’ve been thinking about lately:
It’s best to treat the past as a museum, a place you can visit with set hours and a consistent schedule when it opens and closes. You may never leave if you treat the past like a 24-hour diner.
One of the worst feelings is when someone asks you what you’re doing, and you feel like your answer isn’t enough for them, like they are pitying you for not responding in some arbitrary way that would meet their quota for a satisfactory answer. You don’t owe these people anything, and striving to answer them in a way that would satisfy them is a zero-sum game.
You have to learn to lean into your lens. The constraints of your life are going to afford you a unique perspective that is wholly your own and will give you the opportunity to interact in this world in a way no one else can. Don’t run away from that.
The work never stops. Not till you're gone. The living is the work, and sometimes it feels like too much and you can't go on. But you will. It'll ebb and flow and sometimes the work will feel worth it and sometimes you won't be able to make sense of it in any direction. But as long as you don't keep your head below the water for too long, you'll have the opportunity to make out the horizon, but only if you let yourself.
There are certain cliches in this world, turns of phrase passed around like hand-me-down clothes from person to person. There is a certain amount of lived experience that is required, but with enough of it you’ll always make your way back to those cliches, and there will be a slight comfort in knowing their authenticity.
Relationships of any kind are strengthened when you want to be better for the person, and being able to look back on your relationship and see how that person’s influence made you better is an intoxicating feeling. However, we shouldn’t trick ourselves into thinking that every relationship does this for us.
You rarely need to justify your presence to others.
Inspiration can strike at any time if you leave an antenna open to receive it.
You are not the only character in this story.
Be well, and talk next week.