Welcome to Friday Flurry. This fortnight features intense and contradictory musings about burnout, agency, and attitude. Are we the masters of our own destiny? Is the world going to do what it does regardless? Can you choose your environment... or is the game rigged? Also featured: ancient poetry, book recommendations, and surprising research about how your neighbourhood changes you. But first, let me tell you how tired I am...
Hi gang,
Hope you're surviving out there. Spring has sprung, which in Wellington means an even split of gorgeous fresh sun and pissing grey rain. That's Mother Nature's signal to cast off the seasonal depression that feels like a total coincidence every year and begin the march toward Christmas. Huzzah.
A friend told me this week we are "heading into the burnout part of the year." That jives with my vibes. I'm heaving through the week like a hormonal hippo, blinking with surprise every time another day starts and I'm expected to participate in it. I'm putting things down and instantly forgetting they existed, juggling an endless stream of appointments, navigating kid stuff (balls, exams, playdates, sensitive adolescent crises, et al), making end-of-reno judgement calls (who knew a toilet roll holder could be so important?) and generally trying to be a person in the world and stay alive. Oh, and I'm about to go on the road for a full-on week of travel and delivery. The struggle is real.
All this beleaguerment is either a complement or a contradiction to the smorgasbord of ideas I'm plating up in this fortnight's Flurry. You decide.
Are you the master of your own destiny?
Battling waves of burnout and pressure, I've been rolling around some big and conflicting thoughts.
- None of this is up to you. Your future is uncontrollable and the externalities determining it are too powerful for you to take responsibility for. Embrace your limitations, love your fate, and do what you can without shame, judgement or consternation.
- You have total agency over your life and future, and most of your constraints are self or socially imposed fiction. You should do whatever pleases you because few people give a damn and the consequences are rarely as dire as you expect.
- Your context shapes your possibilities in ways you can hardly grasp. Be cautious of the environment, people and ideas you spend your days marinating in.
- The game is rigged. No matter what you do, some games remain unwinnable. You can't fight structural forces with self-help.
I argue all four positions in this mega-Flurry. It goes wide, goes high, gets bleak, and argues against itself. Make a cuppa and get a nice snack. I can't wait to hear which of these four lenses hits for you right now - especially if you've been feeling the weight of things, too.