[Seth Says] Oft Given, Rarely Taken
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the Bob Newhart Sh-- I mean, the Buttondown mind of-- I mean, my new Buttondown newsletter. Which, okay, is basically the same as the old Tinyletter newsletter. But now on a new platform, with a slightly new title. If you're reading this, we've succeeded at least somewhat, saints be praised. You know how you deal with someone who is too saintly?
.
ADD VICE
Yes, this week I've been thinking about advice. Good advice costs nothing and, as Allan Sherman reminds us, is worth the price. (Er, presuming the advice is free, that is. I mean, back when I was briefly co-hosting an advice podcast, the advice was certainly free and worth every penny. But these days you can't really go online without wading through advertisements for everyone's coaching programs and courses which will teach you how to earn six figures -- apparently convincing other people to buy your course is a good start.)
Regardless, as alluded to in the subject line, advice is one of those things that's more pleasurable to give than receive (like a fruitcake). It turns out to be much easier to give advice than to take it. ("We're not gonna take it, No! We ain't gonna take it...")(Wouldn't it be great to have that song queued up so the next time someone said, "Can I give you some advice?", you could immediately play that at them?) Annoyingly, this holds true even if I'm the one giving the advice.
For example, the other week I advised a friend that the best method of stopping yourself from doomscrolling is to invest yourself in intentional leisure. If you're not going to be doing work, you may as well be enjoying yourself, whether that's watching a movie, reading a book, playing a game, etc. Doomscrolling is a result of the dead middle space where you're not focused enough to work, but haven't let yourself mentally commit to enjoying some leisure time. I believe this wholeheartedly, and someone I didn't know even chimed in to say it seemed like wise advice.
And then the next day I found myself doomscrolling again. And also various other days after that, including last night. Giving good advice, easy! Taking good advice, even your own, hard! (Grover, near! Grover, far!)(Shaka, when the walls fell)
.
OPPOSITES ATTACKED
(Random anecdote about opposites: Thirty years or so ago back when I was in highschool, a classmate asked me what the definition of "Blight" was, and I told him, "It's the opposite of Bdark!" He complained that a mutual friend of ours had given him the same answer.)
Even the same thing can seem opposite to different people.
I occasionally write columns that are a bit political, and when I do, I sometimes find that it's a struggle to try to say what I want to say while still feeling confident that I am being sufficiently funny. Like sure, I can just be very silly, or I can rant about the thing I want to rant about, but to do both effectively at once is tricky, and with most of my political columns, I end up worrying that I've gotten too drawn into the politics and haven't focused enough on the funny.
That didn't happen last week. At the risk of tooting my own horn (which the surgeon general has insisted is totally natural), I was delighted to have put together a political column that felt really fun right off the bat for once. I even made myself laugh when re-reading it. I eagerly shared it with everyone I live with, and her reaction was, "Well, that's BLEAK."
I should hasten to add that having a partner willing to give me honest feedback on my columns in progress is a blessing that has undoubtedly contributed to the quality and success of my columns. And even in this case, she felt the quality was there, it just so happens that I wrote the column and thought, "This is really fun!" and she thought, "This is really bleak!"
Which is more accurate? Well, you're about to get the chance to add to the tally of your choice.
.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADD VENTURE
(Yes, I realize that's a similar joke as the other header line. They're bADD jokes.)
The column in question, a little television script a la the old "Adventures of Superman", can be read here:
Enjoy, or don't!
.
ADD'S ALL, FOLKS!
This concludes our broadcast day. Thanks as always for reading, and back in two weeks with another column.
Advisedly Yours,
Seth