It’s been awhile, huh?
What have I been doing!? What have you been doing, buddy? Get off my back!
I gave up writing almost weekly back on my 34th birthday. It wasn't some catastrophic goodbye, I just took a step back. Maybe you didn't even notice. Like author Steven Pressfield once said, “It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re just busy. Nobody wants to read your shit.”
It's cool. I've been busy too. With stuff. But here I am writing again, and here you are reading it again.
What's the big idea?
Well, since you’re reading this, you know I’ve written a lot about goals and productivity in the past. And, with the new year high motivating us all, you'd think I’d start that shit up again. But, honestly, I’m still not certain I know what I’m talking about. I’ve accomplished some things in my life, sure, but I’m no expert.
Instead, I want to start taking notes again. I want to nudge my curiosity. I want to explore.
What can you expect? Well, I've also written about parasites, choice paralysis, psycho-cybernetics, and drilling a hole through your skull to unleash the creative juices. So, something like that, I suppose.
Psychologist Steven Pinker said, “When you write, you should pretend that you, the writer, see something in the world that’s interesting, that you are directing the attention of your reader to that thing in the world, and that you are doing so by means of conversation.” And that's what I want to do.
Because life is so much more than your resolutions. Hell, most people are done with them in less than three weeks. Ordinary life settles back in. And we can always use a reminder to make the most of that. Author Ryan Holiday wrote about this everyday beauty: “The soft pawprints of a cat on the dusty trunk of a car. The hot steam wafting from the sewer grates on a New York City morning. The smell of asphalt just as the rain begins to fall. No one would say these things compare to the Everglades or a violet sunset over a decaying ruin or a chance to witness a virtuosic performance. But which is more common? Which will you find in front of you more often?"
That's the deal. I'm here to share my notes. I hope you enjoy.
And with that being said, check out these notes from the week:
Need a new documentary? Hulu delivers with Vice's Dark Side of the 90s series.
GoPro isn't always X Games mode. They recently shared their Top 10 Animal Encounters.
Angry Harrison Ford points at stuff too. Like a lot.
If you're still hungry for some goal-setting resolution goodness, I like this Struthless and his most recent video "How to Change Your Life in 2022"