Happy Sunday!
“Burnout isn’t overwhelm; it’s losing your ability to choose.” — Justin Welsh
I jotted this down while listening to a podcast, and I’ve been thinking about it since. It shifted my perspective on multiple stressors.
When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I start searching for my choices. Sometimes my choices are taking action externally, but more often, it’s changing something internally.
The stories I tell myself steal more of my life than the circumstances. When I am working with myself, I make better choices and tell better stories.
This isn’t easy. It never is. But if our one task in this life isn’t to make peace with ourselves, what is it?
Three Lessons Learned in May:
- Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you should do it.
- You need not overcomplicate the decisions you make.
- Accepting your circumstances doesn’t mean resigning yourself to them.
May Memories:
🚢 I successfully wrote & published for 33 days in a row. Boy, was it a trial-by-fire learning experience. I really enjoyed it. Since finishing, most of my efforts have gone towards recycling those 33 days of writing.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Sarah and I crossed a big milestone. 1000 days since we met. I don’t care much about months or years. I try to measure life in days. 1000 days of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, memorable moments and all the moments in between. What a ride it has been!
🏘️ We found a new place to live! Well, Sarah found us a new place to live. We’re headed downtown, into the city. It will be a new experience. Neither of us has lived downtown before. I’m happy to be finished the search.
✨ The apartment we’re currently living in is actively being sold. We’ve accommodated 30+ showings since the beginning of April. We’re not required to vacate the premises, but we usually do. One of the silver linings of this problematic process is it’s forced me outside to go for more walks. Calgary has a 6-day-long spring season, and I’m grateful I got outside to experience most of it this year.
I joke about the short spring, but the lilacs pictured below didn’t last a week.
Three Valuable Things To Share 🌎
📹 VIDEO: An Enduring Examination of Consumerism & Culture
David Foster Wallace Discusses Consumerism (Youtube)
I helped a kid in grade 9 with a social studies assignment on consumerism. He had no idea what consumerism meant. As we figured it out together, I was reminded of this interview with David Foster Wallace. We didn’t watch this video, but we discussed many of the ideas it presents. By the end of the assignment, this 15-year-old wasn’t too far from DFW’s perspective.
“People in the US are caught in a culture of individualism, consumerism, and instant gratification, which leads to emptiness, tension, and a lack of fulfillment.” — David Foster Wallace
🖊️ ARTICLE: Ryan Holiday on Mastering Money & Life
31 Lessons I’ve Learned About Money by Ryan Holiday
Learning about money about learning about life go hand in hand. This article outlines the importance of responsibility and risk-taking in achieving success. Success stretches beyond monetary achievement.
“If it makes you a worse person, it’s not success.” — Ryan Holiday
🎙️ PODCAST: A Longevity Blueprint Intersecting Body & Mind
Dr. Peter Attila on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (Youtube)
This is an engaging cross-examination of aging from two sides of the medical profession. Dr. Peter Attila specializes in the fields of longevity and metabolic health through the study of the body. Dr. Jordan Peterson is a clinical behavioural psychologist meaning he studies the mind. That is a hasty oversimplification, but you get the point.
My main takeaway: Exercise is the best thing you can do for yourself to decrease the plethora of risks associated with aging. It doesn’t need to be much. Three hours a week of easy exertion is all you need. Three hours a week will cut your risk in most categories in half.
I’ll leave you with a quote 🤔
“You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you.”
— James Baldwin
If you enjoyed the newsletter, do me a favour and share it with one person.
I haven’t figured out how to do one of those auto-share buttons, so you’ll need to copy and paste, like we used to before phones got so smart. You can Tweet it using this, though.
Until next time, remember to live and let go,
Scotty
P.S. Harmonizing horn for the ages
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