Limited Capacity
Sometimes, in some rare cases, I live up to my every expectation of myself; but almost always I fall short.
This isn’t a self-criticism, it’s a reality. And it’s one that I’ve learned to accept in the same way I accept that sometimes I would like to eat absolutely everything on a restaurant menu, but I know, much to my chagrin, that I cannot. I also know that if I did somehow manage to live up to those expansive ambitions, I’d probably regret it.
This more rational assessment of my true physical capacity can be discouraging, because limiting myself to only one or two choices requires that I, first, decide what I won’t be having at that particular meal, and second, decide where I’ll focus my attention, instead—two choices that often lead to an unfair comparison between my chosen entrée and all the delectable-paths not taken.
When faced with an overabundance of desirable options, I try to remind myself that this is not the only choice of this kind I will ever make, and that if I flood my palate (and stomach) with too many things all at once, I won’t be able to enjoy any of them fully: I’ll be overwhelmed, not immersed.
It’s possible to more completely experience a dish if it’s all you’re having because the finitude focuses your attention. Too many sensory signals all at once can numb your taste, texture, and olfactory apparatuses to the finer details of the cuisine you’re consuming.
This is also true of work you might do, hobbies you might adopt, and experiences you might pursue.
A reminder that there will be other opportunities to engage in such activities can help us dodge the choice overload-related anxiety that can otherwise arise, and can assuage the sense of buyer’s remorse that we might otherwise feel after deciding between seemingly equally desirable options.
Knowing that I’ll be able to try something different next time around—whether that’s a different menu item or different realm of inquiry I’m curious about—makes it more likely that I’ll be able to enjoy what I’ve got and focus on that chosen option.
Such focus is massively preferable to wasting my psychological energy worrying about what I don’t have and agonizing over my limited capacity.
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Projects
Brain Lenses: Choice-Induced Preference & Legibility
Let’s Know Things: Relaxation Drinks
Yesterday’s Newsletter: Private Prisons, North Korean Defection, Yemen's Houthis
Curiosity Weekly: January 26, 2021
Other: I received a lot of very cool ideas about what I should attempt, post-globe memorization. I’ve got a running list of things to do in the future, now—menu items to try next time I visit that intellectual restaurant—but what I’m attempting, for the moment, is attaining a base-level understanding of the Mandarin language. Which for me, someone who has shown very little skill with languages other than English in the past, will be quite the undertaking.
If anyone has any suggested resources for this, I’d love to know about them! And thanks again for all the amazing suggestions: I’m looking forward to those next steps, but doing my best to focus on the walk I’m currently taking, in the meantime :)
Interesting & Useful
Some neat things to click:
Specimen C 26736(oh no)
1001 Albums(clever way to habituate listening to unfamiliar music)
Carbon Dioxide Removal Primer(free online book about the concept/technologies involved)
GRADATIONs(satisfying short video)
Go Away Green(interesting write-up of an unusual type of camouflage)
The Climate Issue(neat collection of interactive infographics about the climate)
18,000 Asteroids(beautiful orbital map)
How Far Does Wildlife Roam?(explanation of the interesting ICARUS, “animal internet” project)
Outro
I’m in the middle of a digital decluttering process that I work through every time I change up my file-storage setup.
Basically, I’m moving away from Dropbox to look at other options, and setting myself up with a speedier solid-state external drive (my old external hard drive has become quite clunky and makes worrying noises when I use it). When I make this kind of transition (which happens every three-ish years) I use the opportunity to delete duplicate files, reorganize my folders, and generally question all the little habits I have related to what I keep, where, and the process behind those organization and storage methods.
To say that this has been a cumbersome process this time around would be a serious understatement: simply downloading everything from the cloud has been tedious and error-ridden beyond belief. I’m nearly a week into just that component of this project, and I still have a ways to go (I’m far from a digital hoarder, but the internet out here is super-slow and Dropbox is error-prone when it comes to doing this sort of thing).
All of which is to say: I’m happy with the progress I’m making, but I’m so ready to be done with all this, and am looking forward to switching up the service (and organizational setup) I use to avoid this kind of situation in the future.
If you would like to hello, tell me what you’ve been up to (and what you’re looking forward to being up to, next, even as you immerse yourself in your current circumstances), and/or submit an awkward selfie, you can reach me at colin@exilelifestyle.com or by responding to this email.
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You can also buy me a coffee if that’s simpler :)