The fact that we don't understand ourselves* is both a cosmic joke (a deadly one, at that) and a call to divine adventure.
* (Socio-psychology, psychiatry, neurology, all relevant science, etc.)
One of the most brutal realities of the male experience that nobody talks about is the absolute "affection desert" they live in. A woman can get a hug, a genuine compliment, and deep emotional support from her platonic friends on a random Tuesday. A man can go an entire calendar year without another human being touching his arm, asking if he's okay, or giving him a sincere compliment. We’ve built a society where a man only gets to experience basic human warmth if he is actively providing for a partner. Outside of that, he is completely invisible.
Every country has an energy. And that energy rewires you whether you notice it or not. People move to Japan and become minimal. People move to Mexico and their entire relationship with time softens. People move to New York and suddenly they can't sit still. Your personality is far more malleable than you think. We treat it like something fixed, but new surroundings give you new defaults. New pace. New habits. New values absorbed through proximity instead of effort. You're not just the average of the 5 people closest to you. You're the average of the 5 places, the 5 routines, and the 5 inputs you're exposed to most. Your commute shapes you. The weather shapes you. Every space you occupy is voting on who you become. That's why I believe choosing where you live is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. More important than your job title. Maybe more important than your five-year plan. Because the place shapes the plan. The place shapes your energy, your habits, your relationships, your default state. Get the place right and half of the other decisions start making themselves. Get it wrong and you'll fight yourself every day.
"It's a little embarrassing that after forty-five years of research and study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to one another."
—Aldous Huxley
Yehan Wang art
I don’t want to be a huge streamer. I’m not trying to buy Lamborghinis or mansions.
I just want to stop checking my bank account before groceries, afford health insurance, pay off my debt, travel, and live freely.
I want to experience life.
Starbucks is a bank.
Apple is a luxury brand.
Google is an ad agency.
Amazon is a data company.
Red Bull is a media company.
McDonald's is a real estate company.
Facebook is a surveillance company.
People don’t talk enough about how being too self-aware can ruin you. Noticing every tiny shift inside your own mind, every motive, every micro feeling. It sounds wise, but it’s debilitating & you can’t turn it off. You watch yourself living instead of just… living. And the more you understand yourself, the more you mourn the parts you can’t fix. It’s like holding a flashlight you never asked for, pointed directly at your own soul. And the worst part is knowing exactly why you’re hurting, exactly where it comes from & still feeling powerless to change it. It’s strange how clearly I can see myself & still not know how to be myself. I swear, sometimes knowing myself is the thing that breaks me the most. And the truth is… there’s no off switch for a mind that won’t stop looking at itself.
Tenía 39 años y todavía tenía que revisar mi cuenta bancaria antes de invitar un café.
No era un “artista joven y bohemio”. Era un hombre de mediana edad, cansado, sirviendo mesas en Nueva York mientras veía cómo mis amigos triunfaban, se casaban y compraban casas.
Yo solo coleccionaba rechazos.
Diecisiete años audicionando. Diecisiete años escuchando “no eres lo suficientemente latino para este papel” o “eres demasiado latino para este otro”.
Hubo una noche en particular, después de que despidieran a mi agente, en la que me senté en el borde de mi cama y pensé: “Ya basta, Pedro. Esto no va a suceder”. Sentí que le había fallado a mi madre, que se había ido demasiado pronto y nunca me vio llegar a ninguna parte.
Hoy, mi cara está en una pantalla gigante en el medio del Super Bowl, anunciando el final de temporada de la serie más vista del mundo. La gente me llama “el novio de internet” y los directores que antes ni me recibían, ahora me mandan guiones sin que yo los pida.
No escribo esto para presumir mi éxito. Lo escribo para decirte que no existe tal cosa como “llegar tarde”.
Si hubiera triunfado a los 20, la fama me habría destruido. Llegué a la cima cuando por fin aprendí a escalar sin mirar hacia abajo.
Si sientes que se te está pasando el tren, recuerda mi cara de cansancio a los 39 años. Tu historia no ha terminado, apenas está en el segundo acto.
Pedro Pascal
300 million workers just shut down India.
The largest strike in human history, and most of the Western media barely whispered it. That silence is complicity in Modi’s war on workers’ rights.
India’s general strike is the future that the billionaires and ruling class fears most