Cause-Orientation

Current location: Milwaukee, WI, USA

Reading: Been There Done That by Rachel Feltman

Listening: Home By Now by MUNA

(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status)

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Cause-Orientation

When you're cause-oriented—there's something you care deeply about and you've committed part of yourself, your life, to it—it's normal and understandable that you might wring yourself out in support of that cause on a semi-regular basis.

You believe in this mission, this ideal, so when variables shift, opportunities arise, or conflicts brew, you realign your life so you can throw more time, energy, and resources at this most-vital undertaking.

The unfortunate consequence of such a pivot is that you can easily stretch beyond your safe limits without realizing it.

And when we're persistently strained and taxed and depleted, things that were previously effortless become overwhelming; even everyday, bare-basic things.

Moments of placidity are replaced with long, pervasive periods of calmness-crushing anxiety.

You become a raw nerve, a bruised muscle, a fraying tendon.

You're still you, you still care about what you care about, but you no longer have the same internal resources, the same energetic and psychological capacity to invest in anything—not relationships, not work, not your health, and not those larger convictions that otherwise fuel you.

This is something I personally struggle to remember at times, but there are moments in which the most productive thing any of us can do is take a step back, assess our personal wellbeing, and leverage some of our available time, energy, and resources to ensure we're in good mental and physical shape before jumping back into the arena.

This doesn't mean you should stop caring about or working toward things you believe in. On the contrary, it means pausing to make smart investments in personal (and social) infrastructure capable of supporting you during your upcoming bouts.

It's shoring up and bulwarking and sharpening and assessing, not retreating.

For me, this usually means recognizing when I've become stirred-up about something in a non-productive way, consciously stepping back, looking at the big picture (including myself and my life), and then figuring out how I can return to that cause as a more measured, focused, and stable version of myself; one that's capable of sustaining for the long-haul and doing the smart thing rather than just something.

It might look different for you, and that's okay.

What's important is learning to tell the difference between effective and ineffective applications of passion and energy, and how best (for your personal inclinations, needs, and circumstances) to reinforce your foundations and charge up your battery, when necessary.

If you found some value in this essay, consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee :)

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I went through another period of art-hanging a few days ago—I've got a couple walls I'm still arranging and figuring out, but the ones that are finished make me smile every time I walk by them (this is the hallway wall facing the front door entrance of my apartment).

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Projects

Select, recent works from across my project portfolio.

Aspiring Generalist: Skepticism and Denial

Brain Lenses: Provenance

I Will Read To You: Of a Certain Friendship

Let’s Know Things: Proof-of-Stake

Curiosity Weekly / Daily: June 28 / June 28

One Sentence News: June 28 (podcast version)

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Interesting & Useful

Artle — www.nga.gov Discover artwork and guess the artist in 4 tries. A new artist puzzle is available daily.

A Messy Table, a Map of the World — www.nytimes.com Dutch still life paintings like this one do more than depict luxurious objects. They narrate history on a global scale.

Colorized Footage Travels San Francisco’s Market Street Four Days Before the Devastating 1906 Earthquake and Fire — www.thisiscolossal.com

The Miles Brothers were cinematic trailblazers, who, in 1906, filmed the historic “A Trip Down Market Street.”

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Here's a view from my back-bedroom audio production station—the illustration was passed on to me after my grandmother died, and I always liked it when I would visit her house, growing up—so it's fun to have it there with me while I work.

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Outro

I think I might visit Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow, to check out the local art museum and peruse the town.

Madison's relatively nearby (maybe 1.5 hours drive?) and I've never been, despite hearing wonderful things about it.

I've been drawing and painting (charcoals, pastels, acrylics, and good ol' graphite) every day for a while now, and it's been such a blast; kind of like unearthing a cherished possession I buried a decade ago, only to find that it's changed in interesting ways in the interim (because I've changed).

A concise, in-state trip would be good, though, as I don't want to unbalance my lifestyle toward isolated pursuits (even fun ones) after having worked so hard to get more out and about and social these past several months.

What're you up to in these early days of (for the northern hemisphere) summer?

How're you spending your time? What're you looking forward to?

Engaging in any new (or familiar-but-long-buried) hobbies?

If you have a moment, shoot me a quick email and tell me something about your life at the moment. You can reach me by replying to this newsletter or by writing to colin@exilelifestyle.com.

You can also communicate via the usual methods: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Yellowstone sound library.

If you’re finding some value in what I’m doing here, consider supporting my work: Become an Understandary member / Buy me a coffee

Life in the 1800s.