Learn to love the interruptions. Find the fun in the delay, the humor in the challenge, the pleasure in the daily commute.
A great deal of life is spent dealing with interruptions and waiting for the conditions to turn. We think, "If I can just get past this, then things will open up." But the interruption is not standing between you and your life. It is your life.
Yes, I prefer hassle-free days too. But you'll rarely find a situation that is all bad. There are little pockets of joy folded inside the annoyances we face. There is always fun to be had, if you go looking for it.
This is one of the arts of living. It's the art of enjoying the imperfect days. It's the art of making all the moments count.
I would only tell a man's son one thing: your father ate something he wasn't supposed to eat, and now your hunger is broken for life. Everything you want to devour will devour you, every woman you chase without reverence will hollow you out, every power you grab without paying the price will own you. Adam took the fruit because it looked good, and now every son of every man reaches for things that look good and pays the same price. The only thing I would tell you is learn what is not for you, before it teaches you itself
My favorite line from Atomic Habits has been living in my head rent-free:
“It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process is to guarantee disappointment.”
you must create because the thing you’d make doesn’t exist anywhere else. nobody has your exact combination of experiences and wounds and obsessions, which means the work only you could make is genuinely irreplaceable. if you don’t make it, it simply never exists. the world just goes without it, never knowing what it missed. that’s the most exciting thing about being you. the thing is waiting and you’re the only door it has.
“Time will tell” is one of the realest quotes ever because time will eventually tell who put in the work, it will tell who was disciplined, it will tell who was playing the long game. Time will indeed tell.
If you must be a slave to anything, let it be beauty, and if you must be ruthless, then ensure you are so in the pursuit and protection of said beauty, rather than in the desecration of it. Orient yourself in this way, and you will live a life true to your deepest being.
One of man's deepest desires is not to be a burden on anyone and to earn his way. Burdening others brings him shame. He aspires to self-sufficiency so he can be one that gives rather than takes. He does not pursue independence out of vanity, he covets self-reliance out of honour.
Remember something brave you did when you were a child. Even when you were small, you were capable of great things. You showed character and strength. You did something impressive, despite being small, scared and vulnerable. Remember this, and let it inspire you now as an adult.
An old woman on the street grew tomatoes that were obscene. they were so red and so alive, it made you uncomfortable to look at them. everyone else had the same dirt, the same sun, the same rain, and their gardens were fine, but fine. hers were different, and nobody could explain it. she talked to the plants, which everyone laughed at, but she also did something else. she watched them before she did anything. she would stand there forever, then water or not water, prune or not prune. she let them tell her what they needed instead of deciding for them. and they grew the way children grow when you stop telling them what to be and just start paying attention to what they already are
If the world gets darker and dumber, and your response is to match it, to curse at it, to become obsessed with how right you are about how bad it is, you’ve already handed over the one thing it wanted from you. you don't protect your sanity by fighting the madness. you protect it by refusing to let it have your mornings, your sundays, the way you sit with a friend saying nothing. the world does not need your opinion about how lost it is. it knows. what it needs is somebody still saying grace before a meal while the kitchen burns
“Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfil the way that is in you.”
- Dr. Carl Jung
Just because you can see how you are able to improve, doesn’t mean you aren’t pretty great already. It means you see how you could be even greater, but just haven’t managed to get there yet. The absence of perfection is not evidence of mediocrity. Do not sell yourself short.