243 - you bring it where you go 💼👜
Hey there, !
A shorter piece today, because I'm perpetually tired but I love writing and it's one of the highlights of my week.
I read this piece recently - To the Bored All Things Are Boring - which is a piece that essentially boils down to 'when you're bored, you should do mindful things' (which he calls 'focal' practices). I found the piece pretty much a repackaged version of mindfulness, explained in a new way (so I still recommend reading it!), but the headline sparked something for me that made me write this piece.
Simply put, it's that we bring things with us, wherever we go.
If you're bored, then everything's boring. If you're happy, then you bring that happiness with you wherever you go. If you're an asshole, that energy pervades your everyday too.
What I mean is that we do a lot to try to change ourselves by changing our circumstances, changing our country, changing our jobs...but at the end of the day we're still who we are. There's just some base personality that we have that we recede to - often when we're alone, unperceived by others, or maybe when we're in times of stress.
It was why I was so against going to 'find myself' when I was younger, or for those who thought that they needed to go overseas to do that. Most of the problems you're trying to deal with, or the problems you're trying to escape from - they stem from the patterns of your life and have brought you to where you are. That's just...who you are as a person.
Now, if you do want to change, you might think that a big change is exactly what's necessary. Change your haircut, your friends, your country, your work, get a cat, throw out all your clothes, commit a crime - whatever floats your boat :D
But I don't think it's the extrinsic circumstances that you need to change - it's the core story and belief in yourself. What do you tell yourself, subconsciously, that makes you do the things you do? (note: yes, I have been listening to Esther Perel a lot lately, why do you ask?) The only positive I see from moving your circumstances - location, job, relationship - is to see how you're reacting to other things, being exposed to new points of view, and seeing how that sits with you. Then, you can make increasingly better choices about your future.
But there's so much work that goes into understanding why the previous thing didn't work, so that it can direct where you should go next - I don't know if we're all doing it. I know I certainly haven't had much time to really think about it with enough information - and I wallow in the stew of my brain 24/7. Mm...maybe that's why we're all supposed to have therapists.
Me, for example - I know that I've been in my home routines for quite a while, and that taking long service leave to go halfway across the world isn't really going to change anything drastically for me. I'll probably just revert back to who I am and slouch around the house (lol sorry Steph) until kicked out - but I'm gonna make a conscious effort to do new things. I'll probably still just look for boardgame stores, and DnD accessories, and Hong Kong cafes, and good food, and fun haunts, and try to search for new things while I can (6 weeks goes by so quickly!) - and most importantly, take a good long rest.
Don't know why I wrote this. A reminder for myself, I think - that things don't change unless you think 'em through, and work out what's new. Or maybe just a future relic of my 30's and how my thinking has changed, I guess.
Chat soon :)
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✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Kata Kita - this place was really good! It does Balinese / Indonesian food, which I don't know that much about, which is a bit of a hole in my asian cuisine palate but I was very happy to try it. It's on LaTrobe St right next to MC - I remember I kept walking past but never going in. It had a really nice squid ink fried rice, some good roast pork, and actually nice asian-style fried chicken! Go try it - recommended :D
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Lumber Punks - AXE THROWING. wow. One of those gimmicky things that once you try it you realise why it's so fun. It was way safer than I thought it would be, since you're throwing axes, but it essentially slides out of your hands anyway so nothing to worry about :D It's a lot of fun! Highly recommended :)
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Algorithmic fitting of japanese candy - As y'all know, I love reading things where people are examining their niches and working problems out publicly! Sometimes problems can be simple like this, but provide so much more complexity.
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Making another pickproof lock (but better) - YouTubers building locks to try and beat the LockPickingLawyer - such great content. So many cool ideas in this hella overengineered lock. Looking forward to the update from the LPL!
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Tetris Font - A way to make sentences animated with Tetris pieces. A really fun little find <3