Acceptance
I know several people who are currently struggling to accept aspects of reality that don’t align with 1. who they believed they would be, 2. how they believed they would feel, or 3. what they believed the world would look…
Cognitive Overload
When there’s a lot happening all at once, it’s not uncommon to experience cognitive overload: a nonstop feeling of overwhelm, memory problems, difficulties with focus, and an inability to healthily (and thoughtfully) deal with any volume of complexity. “A lot”…
Another Year
Another year around the sun, another 365 days tallied, another torrent of experiences weathered and another boatload of lessons learned. Last December, my life was different from how it is today. I’ve had loved ones experience all sorts of traumas.…
Prodding and Reaffirming
I’ve been toying with the idea of continuously wearing some kind of “smart” gadget that tracks basic things like heart rate and steps taken, and which allows me to stay connected to the world without having to pull my phone…
Clearing the Way
It’s amazing how often a sense of stuckness or listlessness or internal confusion can be remedied (at least in part) by cleaning, reorganizing, and getting rid of stuff. Sometimes this stuff will be intangible: heaps of digitized media, open tabs…
Internal Logic
I read a lot of fiction, and one of the biggest determinants of whether a book grips me or not is the degree to which there’s an internal logic to the world they’re writing about and the characters who populate…
Dark and Cozy
Milwaukee is cooling down. After a long October of teases, the temperature dropping for a few days before rocketing back up to the mid-80s (~30 C), late-November has gifted me a string of 40–50 degree (4–10 C) days, with not…
Consumption Season
We’re headed back into Please Buy Literally Everything season, so here are some quick thoughts on consumption, gifts, and the like. Many things (especially but not exclusively gadgets) get cheaper over time—the same model of phone (for instance) becomes more impressive with…
Non-Clarity
I’m writing this before the end of election day, so I don’t know how everything’s going, whether I’m thrilled or sobbing, or how everyone involved is spinning whatever we seem to know at the moment you’re reading this. But I…
The Fundamentals
When I’m trying to learn something new—anything really, from physical skills to a functional understanding of an unfamiliar subject—much of my initial effort is focused on identifying the fundamentals. This sounds like a simple enough process, but often the things…