Life Stages
February 1, 2023
Current location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Reading: For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
Listening: If Books Could Kill hosted by Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status—via email or in the comments)
Life Stages
I've spent maybe too much time over the past several years thinking about society's assumed, “normal” stages of life.
This is partly (I suspect) because I’ve taken a somewhat unusual path (relative to what we might think of as the "default standard") which means I've generally had to write my own manuals along the way; few of the things I've endeavored to do have led me down well-marked, pre-paved roads.
An adjacency to (but inaccessibility of) established ways of being and doing things can sometimes be annoying and draining, especially during periods when I'm exhausting myself just trying to figure out the bare-basic fundamentals of some new thing I'd like to try.
Some ambitions that would be child's play for someone further along in life (or in some cases, someone who's earlier on in their journey and who hasn't yet accreted the moss and barnacles of age), are heavy-lifts for me, because I haven’t acquired the same backlog of experiences and knowledges that many people pick up along the way.
In other cases, I've acquired advantages because of the asymmetric road I've wandered.
The practical outcome of ordering from life's à la carte menu rather than selecting from one of a comparable few prescribed offerings is that you'll almost always have to work harder to achieve something serviceable, but cobbling together something custom-tailored for your specific wants and needs will be (counterintuitively) more attainable.
Your stages in life will also seldom line up perfectly with those of others your age, and you may feel simultaneously ahead of and behind everyone else in your demographic cluster—which can be wonderful and worrying in equal measure.
Adapting to this kind of chronological misalignment can be powerful, if also effortful. It opens up a slew of doors that aren't otherwise visible and makes imagining possible futures beyond those offered up by mainstream life paths a bit more attainable.
Then again, there’s something to be said for well-tread trails and life paths paved with the wisdom of folks who have been there before you. It's nice to be capable of blazing trails, and to maybe try your hand at it periodically, whatever the shape and scope of your larger journey, but it’s also prudent to develop the humility required to seek out, assess, and adopt (when warranted) culturally inheritable perspectives, warnings, guides, and goals.
If you found value in this essay, consider buying me a coffee :)
My Work, Elsewhere
Aspiring Generalist / Brain Lenses (podcast) / Climate Happenings / Let’s Know Things (podcast) / Never Not Curious / Notes On the News / One Sentence News (podcast) / You Probably Don’t Need
Might I suggest reading:
Interesting & Useful
Cairo: A Beautiful Thing is Never Perfect
“One day, while photographing in a very old neighborhood that never sees tourists wondering through their small winding streets, an older man stopped me and in a confused state asked me why I was taking photos. I was overwhelmed with awe and excitement by the scene I was photographing and motioned to it, stating ‘Just look at it, it’s beautiful.’ He looked, looked back at me and replied ‘beautiful, it’s an old mess’ and walked on.”
Does a City’s Population Size Impact its Quality of Life?
“According to research compiled by Elaine Siu, bigger doesn’t always mean better—at least when it comes to population size. This interactive visualization takes a deep dive into this dataset.”
Some Common Geographic Mental Misplacements
“In the mental map of students, and many used-to-be-students, the continent of Africa is positioned much farther south than it really is. While Africa does straddle the equator, many are surprised to learn how far north it extends.”
Outro
It feels so nice just not being sick anymore. It’s amazing how good “normal” can feel when you’re comparing it to “not being able to keep food down or being able to sleep from pain and discomfort.”
USPS tells me I have some postcards waiting for me at my PO Box! I’m looking forward to picking those up in the next few days (thanks in advance if you’ve already send me something), and if you’d like to send me some physical mail, here’s where you can reach me:
Colin Wright
PO Box 11442
Milwaukee, WI 53211
I received some great questions for my revived Ask Colin column recently, so expect another one of those possibly later this week (and feel free to email me any questions you might have, or leave them as a comment if you’d prefer).
I’d also love to hear from you about whatever’s on your mind. I reply to every email I receive, and you can reach me by replying to this newsletter or by writing to colin@exilelifestyle.com (you can also leave a comment if you’d like to share something publicly).
You can also communicate via the usual methods: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or intentionally uncomfortable products designs.
Current location: Denver international airport
Reading: Man’s search for meaning by Viktor Frankl
Listening: After Socrates with John Vervaeke