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Happy Sunday, Reader!
September started with a smoky drive to Saskatchewan.
Five hours cruising through the prairies gives a person plenty of time to ponder. Time to plan and make promises to oneself. Predict and perfect the future, frame by frame.
It’s easy to dream when you’re driving down the highway.
It’s much more difficult to do what’s required once you arrive at your destination. To do what you said you’d do when you were dreaming. Somehow, your vision turned to obligation as soon as your hands were free. Because wherever you go, there you are. Smoky skies over Saskatchewan won’t change that.
Every good intention turns to regret without action. Every hope dies when it’s not realized.
I don’t say this to deflect. I say it to reflect.
The best planning is reflective planning. Do the thing. Reflect. Then do it better the next time.
My expectations smashed into reality more than once this month. I’ve learned hard lessons on the difference between dreaming and doing.
As hard as it’s been, it’s humbling and hopeful to realize who you actually are.
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September so far:
🎉 Quality time in Saskatchewan – I left Alberta to celebrate my nephew’s 2nd birthday and enjoy a few days on the farm. Three weeks removed from NYC, it felt like a different world. Open, endless sky over the rolling fields. The quiet and quality time with family was a perfect finale to my summer adventures.
💡 Overcoming hurdles of self-belief – Selling has never been my strength. But I’ve picked a path of selling solutions, so I gotta do it. I’ve learned my biggest obstacle is self-belief. When you believe in what you’re offering, it’s only a matter of time before other people do too. The more you do it, the more you’ll believe.
🎨 Curating creative consistency – The most significant success of September has been a consistent schedule for publishing. I’ve managed to post two essays per week and I shipped a YTshort for the first time in too long. It feels good to stack tangible evidence supporting who I say I am.
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Three Lessons Learned in September
I. When you choose your struggle, the hard way is the right way.
If we don’t learn from hardship, we lose.
I’ve had to face a lot of my shortcomings this month. I’ve had to recalibrate to reality day after day. Reminding myself to start from where I am, not where I wish I was. They didn’t teach me this in school. There were no lessons for sucking at something in your thirties.
But this is what I signed up for. I never wanted easy.
The sacrifice is worth it if you’re sacrificing for the right reasons.
II. Authenticity is sharing the bad with the good because it’s everyone’s experience.
Being you is the only thing that will ring true.
The more I read and the more I write, the more I wonder. I wonder why I try so hard to get every word right. Because what even is right? We’re all looking to one another to figure it out.
We want to save ourselves from suffering. But still, we suffer, stopping ourselves from being saved. There is no good without bad, and we connect in the middle.
Share your struggle, and people will see you.
III. Doubting the future is historically hardwired and still a hindrance to personal progress.
Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.
According to Van Neistat, we’ve entered the fourth turning of our generation. The phase of terrible trials and eventual rebirth that history shows recurs in 80-year increments.
Through the High phase (post-WW2), the Awakening phase (Civil Rights movement), and the Unravelling phase (9/11 & the culture wars), we find ourselves in the Crisis phase (Great Recession & ???). This means it might get worse before it gets better. We’ll soon find out.
Whether WW3 is coming or not, we gotta keep living. Keep working to control what is our’s to control.
Doubts be damned. You decide.
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I’ll leave you with a quote 🤔
— Leo Tolstoy
Until next time, remember to live and let go,
Scotty
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PS Humans are so fast
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