Other Implications

August 21, 2024

3-Item Status

Current location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Reading: Waves of the Blue Sea published by Media Evolution (many authors)
Listening: tears by Hard Life

Quick Notes

HTT39: I’ve been bowled over by the response to my newest book, How To Turn 39; a huge thanks to everyone who’s picked up a copy (in whatever format), and thanks so much for the kind messages about it! My heart is full, and I’m thrilled that so many people are similarly keen to think about aging in a positive, optimistic, productive way :)

Question: I’m trying something a little different with the “poll” section today, asking an open-ended question, rather than doing a more limited, multiple-choice sort of thing.

(If you have a moment, reply with your own 3-Item Status and/or Quick Notes about what’s happening in your life.)

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Other Implications

I’m in the process of finalizing the specifics of a new project, and though the basics are sorted out and my pre-launch to-dos are essentially locked in, there’s still work to be done in terms of the secondary implications it might have on my life.

I know what the tangible outputs will be, but what about the process leading up to those outputs? Where will the time and energy I’ll need to invest come from, and what would I be spending that time and energy on, otherwise?

How might I set this thing up so that it contributes to my other efforts and ambitions rather than pulling from my pool of resources in a zero-sum way?

How do I want to feel when I’m working on this project? What do I want to derive from this work, beyond the ultimate, productized output?

It’s possible to jump right into something new—be it a hobby, (writing or reading) a book, or working on some kind of side-hustle—and to then rearrange things as we go so that this addition, whatever its initial shape, becomes more custom-tailored as time goes by.

It’s also possible, though, to take some of those measurements ahead of time so that we’re fueled and liberated by this new ambition rather than drained and constrained by it, from day one.

A little bit of pre-work can shape such efforts so that they supplement and augment and coordinate with the other things on our to-do lists (short- and long-term), rather than pulling us away from them.

This won’t always be an option, of course, as sometimes things just happen, and opportunities that should be immediately taken pop up without warning.

In such cases, the best we can usually manage is to iterate our lives and efforts as we go, slowly bringing things into better, more sustainable equilibrium over time.

When possible, though, it’s prudent to account for our oft-neglected, life-focused variables, too. As while it’s tough to quantify things like getting good sleep and not feeling rushed throughout the day, these sorts of feelings, vibes, and potentialities are fundamental to our continued healthfulness, flourishing, and capacity to cultivate and pursue our passions and goals.

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If you enjoyed this essay, consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee.

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Interesting Links

• The History of Bouillon Cubes

  Humans have been attempting to make soup into convenience food for millenia, and portable soups—essentially concentrated stocks—were a feature of nomadic cultures for thousands of years. In the 14th century, the Magyar warriors of Hungary boiled salted beef until it fell apart, cut it into pieces, dried it in the sun, ground it into a powder, and carried it around in small bags—something of a forerunner to the packets of Lipton’s Cup-o-Soup.

• Why Does ‘Late’ Mean “Dead”?

  When the word was first adopted into Old English from Germanic tongues, people invoked it in many of the adverbial senses still common today: “after the proper, right, or expected time,” “at or until a time far into the day or night,” and “relatively near the end of a period of time, season, event, etc.,” per the Oxford English Dictionary.

• 9 Ordinary Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know Had Fascinating Names

  Vagitus: Please stick with us because this one doesn’t sound like what it means. Vagitus describes a baby’s cry, specifically the first cry of a newborn — meaning you can, in fact, discuss it in polite company.

(If you want more links to interesting things, consider subscribing to Aspiring Generalist.)

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Question

Lots of travelers on this mailing list, according to last week’s poll!

This week, I’m riffing on the polling concept and asking an open-ended question, instead.

Consider answering in the comments (via the button below) or hitting “reply” to answer via email. Here’s the question:

What do you believe to be your purpose in life?

There are countless ways to think about and interpret this question, and all are valid.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, of late, as I’ve recently been ask some version of this question by a few different people, and my answer (after considering it for a moment, each time) wasn’t precisely what I expected it to be, and varied a bit between conversations because of the differing implied conversational scopes.

Please interpret this however you like (it’s more interesting if we get answers based on different scopes and implications, I think) and consider letting me know (or letting everyone know by leaving a comment) how you think about this topic—I’m very curious about your answer!

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Snapshot from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum here in Milwaukee. Very interesting place! There are more than 10,000 bobbleheads, and they have a little scavenger hunt for you to do while exploring, which makes you pay closer attention to the details than you otherwise might.

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Outro

I’m going in for my annual physical (medical checkup) shortly after sending out this newsletter.

I’m not expecting any bad news, but there’s always a tiny speck of concern in the back of my mind focused on out-of-nowhere potentialities, like a freckle turning out to be cancer or my Hashimoto’s flaring up without my realizing it; a bunch of practical realities changing quite suddenly, and possibly for the worse.

Aside from little aches and minor injuries (like my one still-wobbly ankle), though, I feel pretty dang good, so fingers-crossed my bloodwork and other tests reflect and support that external, consciously experienced reality.

Any doctor’s visits in your near-future? Have any meaningful conversations, recently? Drop me a message and tell me what’s been going on, and/or take a moment to introduce yourself—I respond to every message I receive and would love to hear from you :)

Prefer stamps and paper? Send me a letter, postcard, or some other physical communication at: Colin Wright, PO Box 11442, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA

Or hit me up via the usual methods: Instagram/Threads, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or collection of collections.

At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference.