Some weeks get notes, some weeks don’t. Some weeks are interesting, some less so/
I’m making a big effort to pick up things that I’ve previously started. Time adds perspective/
You need to give yourself a critical break from media cycles and narratives because they certainly won’t give you a break. Practice ‘standing apart’ but you will need will, desire, and training (voluntate, studio, disciplina). You will need to take the view of the outsider without leaving. Living in the midst of it in a permanent state of refusal. (From ‘How to do nothing’ by Jenny Odell)/
How do we classify whether we are successful or unsuccessful at something, at everything, and in general? What criteria do we use? I’m spending a lot of time wrestling with this conundrum (and realise I always have since I first picked up a pencil). Am I more successful as a person because I don’t drive a car but less successful because I travel in them? I could say I have successfully avoided living to work, but have not always successfully spent my time doing the work I want to be doing. How successful is this? Is it just better to avoid considering success at all as it is obviously just a sign of insecurity. Shrug/
Successful relationships are built on forming an agreement that when one person is down and struggling the other will always stand up and protect (One Day – Two Day from Just Kids by Patti Smith)/
Recently there have been online conversations about how important it is to communicate with people who have had a positive impact on your life, however long ago. For example, it is never too late (well if you leave it too long, it will be too late) to contact a teacher who had a positive impact on you when growing up. It is also important to communicate with small independent sellers when you buy something from them, especially when they have produced or created the thing. It really helps. (Liking on social media doesn’t count)/
What if the only thing that you learnt at school was to read. I mean read books. Lots of them. And maybe write an occasional essay (though I think that is just part of the course when you read enough books. It’s literally an equation). I think it might actually be useful later on in life/
I’m sure I could write about nothing if I had nothing to say/
Remembering something from the past and then mentally attaching a memory of a relevant photograph to it. These are my memories/
If you don’t know what to do. Read. I’m reading ‘How to do nothing’ by Jenny Odell and The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (again – a big favourite)/