My favorite non-conventional bit of wisdom is this line from the Bob Seger song, "Against the Wind"
"wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"
sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. But I think about that line a lot.
I think writing a sub stack and being honest about yourself is a great way of coping! And to me it shows courage and strength. (and I know I'm not objective, because I've been writing one for the past five weeks).
I'm catching a vibe of FdB here in the critique, with your characteristic wit. I love your graphics, and I, too, have wondered why my family was going through massive amounts of mac n' cheese per week. Milk duds are my guilty pleasure.
I’m a big fan of his and often things I post are inspired by something I’ve read on his substack or in the comments. I actually thought today, is it weird to do a reaction-to-FDB substack? 😂
This is a really great post. Also, I know this is not the point at all but my sons love WWE and so I know much more about it than I ever thought I would. And I don't watch makeup videos but I do enjoy the occasional hair video, or "how to style a scarf" video.
I loved your WWE Christmas sweater, wasn’t it? I just really am delighted to find out when people have interests that seem so unexpected. (I know so much about Dungeons and Dragons because of my sons.) Which is why I don’t believe in embarrassment. Just like what you like!
My favorite makeup YouTuber is Emily Eddington. She lives in southern Illinois, she used to be a news anchor, she has three kids and her husband has a non-social-media job. I’ve kept track of her for about 12 years! Watching her is like listening to a friend, like back when you were a teenager getting ready together to go to the movies or whatever, just talking about life while making yourself feel cute. I’ll often put on a makeup video while getting ready myself.
Great post. I genuinely think depression-memeing your way through life messes with your ability to think of yourself as someone who can work through it. Anyway it made a real, noticeable difference in my daily anxiety-management when I cut jokey relatable memes about it out of my diet.
I’m no enemy of the pithy or the flippant (see: everything I write) but I hope it’s also very clear that I sincerely believe in the preciousness of life. Humor that makes you feel icky or cynical isn’t the best type to saturate yourself with.
I just to joke about this stuff all the time. I try to refrain some self-deprecating jokes now, since I think it really does make you feel and look weaker.
A similarly poignant piece of advice from an extremely trivial source has also stuck with me for a long time... it was a radio commercial for Laverne Cox's podcast where she shared that her therapist once told her, "You can only control two things in this world: your actions, and your perceptions. That's it." I have never actually listened to Cox's show, just that soundbite, but man, it has stuck with me.
Hey, catch the wisdom from wherever it comes. Obviously I know that trying to remedy injustice is something that's played a big role in your life, and it has in mine, too. But lately I'm reminded of Captain Sobel in Band of Brothers, asking his officers to bring him a list of the men's infractions. They ask, "what infractions, sir?" and he replies, "find. some." Manufacturing and nurturing injustice is different than working to right it.
This was a lovely essay, as always. For nearly all of my life, I have been an extremely sunny, cheerful, optimistic, happy person. The one exception happened after my son was born, when I had severe post-partum depression. I felt like my brain had been taken over by an evil demon, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be restored to my regular, bouncy self. (Thankfully, with the help of a terrific psychiatrist I did get better.)
I think our society treads a dangerous path when we confer enhanced social status on people for their putative mental illnesses. If you truly have a mental illness, you know how terrible it is, and you want it to be obliterated so you can get back to the person you know you truly are, deep down. I was saved by a psychiatrist who helped me access the strongest, not the weakest parts of myself. We should be letting young people know that they will be better off encouraging each other for their triumphs, and not for their weaknesses.
My favorite non-conventional bit of wisdom is this line from the Bob Seger song, "Against the Wind"
"wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then"
sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. But I think about that line a lot.
I think writing a sub stack and being honest about yourself is a great way of coping! And to me it shows courage and strength. (and I know I'm not objective, because I've been writing one for the past five weeks).
I have a feeling you will be disappointed when I am inevitably unmasked as a fraud.
I'm catching a vibe of FdB here in the critique, with your characteristic wit. I love your graphics, and I, too, have wondered why my family was going through massive amounts of mac n' cheese per week. Milk duds are my guilty pleasure.
I’m a big fan of his and often things I post are inspired by something I’ve read on his substack or in the comments. I actually thought today, is it weird to do a reaction-to-FDB substack? 😂
This is a really great post. Also, I know this is not the point at all but my sons love WWE and so I know much more about it than I ever thought I would. And I don't watch makeup videos but I do enjoy the occasional hair video, or "how to style a scarf" video.
I hope you're doing okay.
I loved your WWE Christmas sweater, wasn’t it? I just really am delighted to find out when people have interests that seem so unexpected. (I know so much about Dungeons and Dragons because of my sons.) Which is why I don’t believe in embarrassment. Just like what you like!
My favorite makeup YouTuber is Emily Eddington. She lives in southern Illinois, she used to be a news anchor, she has three kids and her husband has a non-social-media job. I’ve kept track of her for about 12 years! Watching her is like listening to a friend, like back when you were a teenager getting ready together to go to the movies or whatever, just talking about life while making yourself feel cute. I’ll often put on a makeup video while getting ready myself.
Great post. I genuinely think depression-memeing your way through life messes with your ability to think of yourself as someone who can work through it. Anyway it made a real, noticeable difference in my daily anxiety-management when I cut jokey relatable memes about it out of my diet.
I’m no enemy of the pithy or the flippant (see: everything I write) but I hope it’s also very clear that I sincerely believe in the preciousness of life. Humor that makes you feel icky or cynical isn’t the best type to saturate yourself with.
I just to joke about this stuff all the time. I try to refrain some self-deprecating jokes now, since I think it really does make you feel and look weaker.
A similarly poignant piece of advice from an extremely trivial source has also stuck with me for a long time... it was a radio commercial for Laverne Cox's podcast where she shared that her therapist once told her, "You can only control two things in this world: your actions, and your perceptions. That's it." I have never actually listened to Cox's show, just that soundbite, but man, it has stuck with me.
Hey, catch the wisdom from wherever it comes. Obviously I know that trying to remedy injustice is something that's played a big role in your life, and it has in mine, too. But lately I'm reminded of Captain Sobel in Band of Brothers, asking his officers to bring him a list of the men's infractions. They ask, "what infractions, sir?" and he replies, "find. some." Manufacturing and nurturing injustice is different than working to right it.
This was a lovely essay, as always. For nearly all of my life, I have been an extremely sunny, cheerful, optimistic, happy person. The one exception happened after my son was born, when I had severe post-partum depression. I felt like my brain had been taken over by an evil demon, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be restored to my regular, bouncy self. (Thankfully, with the help of a terrific psychiatrist I did get better.)
I think our society treads a dangerous path when we confer enhanced social status on people for their putative mental illnesses. If you truly have a mental illness, you know how terrible it is, and you want it to be obliterated so you can get back to the person you know you truly are, deep down. I was saved by a psychiatrist who helped me access the strongest, not the weakest parts of myself. We should be letting young people know that they will be better off encouraging each other for their triumphs, and not for their weaknesses.