Mediations #5: Life Priorities and I'm Back
My goal is to ensure this is the most helpful email you get in your inbox.
I’ve been absent from your inbox, and I won’t tell you that I was busy. I’m trying to get that word out of my life. Busyness is only an illusion we create ourselves to avoid confronting our procrastination or an excuse to leave our commitments unfulfilled. It’s also a common justification for saying, “I have no energy to invest in this.” So, I wasn’t busy.
I focused on my physical health, which was declining, and my emotional health, which needed much more care than I thought. This healthcare activity started two years ago by focusing on my sleep, but it’s still a work in progress. I was able to increase my sleep by up to seven hours (from a maximum of six). Meanwhile, we got a dog named Leda. I can’t say that Leda made our lives easier, but she filled us with joy, love, and a little bit of purpose. Lastly, a big chunk of my time spent at work, along with my energy. Why am I catching you up with my life? Am I creating an excuse? No.
There are so many sides of life that try to pull us in a direction. When we don’t take a pause and look where we are going, we find ourselves in a place we never planned to be.
It’s much like a good navigation algorithm going wrong at times. Once, I was using Google Maps to drive to another city. It took me out of the main road, thinking that it would be faster because it was short. I suddenly found myself on a gravel road, riding some distance, then connecting to the main road again. I didn’t zoom out or trust my instincts. Life is exactly the same. You feel something is off, you feel lost, but you must keep going until you find a way to return to the main road.
During this seven-month hiatus, there was something inside me that was pulling me to the writing. I felt incomplete. This pull—or rather hunger—got stronger over time, and I couldn’t resist anymore. So, I’m back.
I’ll take you on a journey where I negotiate between life’s different priorities. As my wife often points out, I am never satisfied with anything as they are; you’ll observe how I play the mediator role between many topics, find the little things I can optimize, and try to find the balance.
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Some Things I Found Great
BBC Reith Lectures with Historical Fiction writer Hilary Mantel — Five lectures from 2017. Start from the first one; each is better than the previous one. I’m in the fifth and my favorite is the third so far. The best part? Hilary’s wisdom in answering audience questions at the end of each lecture. My best quote: “Facts are strong, but they are not stable.” Listen to it for joy, story, intellectuality, and endless wisdom.
A Diary of a Rikers Island Library Worker — Piece by Medar de la Cruz. Simply marvelous. (Won the Pulitzer Award for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary Category)
I’m the Word “Utilize” and I’m Loving Every Moment of Your Overblown Rhetoric -I wish I wrote this. I love the provocation and thinking about the nuances of the words we use.