Quiet consistency

A reminder by me, for me, that the work you put out in the world and the care you provide to your loved ones matter more than how you are perceived: the desk setup, the perfect Linux rice, the fanciest and latest Mac, hopping onto every new design trend.

The more I grow up, the more I realize the quietly consistent life, the not-loud social media presence, the ability to miss out on things, the choice to not have an opinion, let alone a manufactured controversial one, might be the best philosophy of life.

Pay attention to your anxieties. Sometimes they point at real problems. But other times, what should be evaluated is not the thing in itself, but the meaning assigned to the thing. This is why people with a terminal illness see things more clearly: it eliminates the need to perform and kills every bullshit anxiety.

Stop caring about how you look to others.

Be honest with yourself, be honest with the world. Stop performing. Go around knowing there are far more important things than what the world has decided you should care about. Buy nice things for yourself, not for an audience. Buy nice things for your loved ones, but not to replace love with objects.

A life organized around producing the correct impressions and ticking the right boxes is a sad, diminished life. The alternative is to replace a philosophy of curation with one of generation: everything else should be a corollary of the good things you put out into the world.

Go do something interesting.