Deciding to stop reading a book is an art form in itself. I think many people never get into reading because they haven't found the right book for them and aren't willing to give up quickly enough when one doesn't click. Even I find it difficult, and I've stopped reading dozens of books. There are simply too many good books out there to spend time on ones you don't enjoy. The book in question was A Philosophy of Walking, by the way. It was just... so uninteresting.
A big part of building a life you enjoy is challenging yourself from time to time. Most things worth doing aren’t easy. They might be for other people, but everyone has their own hang-ups. Mine is going out in public and doing stuff on my own. I’ve gotten a lot better at that in recent years, but I’m still not where I want to be.
And you know what? I embrace it as a project I get the opportunity to work on. Isn’t it great to have a life full of projects you’re allowed to keep working on? Yes. Yes, it is.
Especially because I’m kind of double-dipping in the upside sauce: once because I get to feel great right after challenging myself, like I did after that afternoon in a café, and then again when I’ve challenged myself for long enough to suddenly become someone for whom it feels easy to spend time alone in a café.
What a privilege!
Speaking of life being great: This is how my Saturdays look like. What’s not to love?!
My journal entry from two years ago (just a classic text-based journal) ended with me promising myself I wouldn’t spend my birthday alone the following year. And I didn’t.
Last year, I invited my friends over on the evening of my birthday, and it was wonderful. Now many of them have babies, so this year I invited them over on Sunday afternoon for coffee and cake instead. It was great.
I went to bed blissful and full of gratitude.
Visiting Tower Bridge while melting wasn’t exactly a highlight of this trip, but I’m glad I saw it.
The spider crossed my “this is fine” boundary and was promptly evicted.
I kind of messed up the background. Please don't unfollow me because I'm not good enough at art.
