Five days a week, for the last five months, I wake up at 6:15 in the morning and get squished. I wake up that early and go through the pain in order to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). There’s no rational reason to do this. I’m forty-three, and I’m too old and too small to compete for any prestigious awards. None of my friends are into BJJ. There’s only my fascination with the art itself.
Nov 13, 2023·edited Dec 19, 2023Liked by Chris Wong
Actually the inclusion of the Pressfield quote was a very nice wrap up for your piece. I've been thinking about War of Art lately, even pulled it off my shelf and set it aside for another reading. Your point about needing to engage what is interesting to us is non-negotiable I think. Ignoring one's natural interests is like hiding from the sun.
Yes! And at that point we're talking about the need for diligent personal growth and self-awareness work, that in some cases even demands confronting childhood trauma, early life failures, the presence of hidden shame, and more if we want to reconnect to the root of our life force. That's where a community of others is so useful. I was reading Paul Millerd's latest piece and he said this interesting thing, "You can't aim at purpose." I think that's true in many ways, but I said that doesn 't stop purpose from aiming at us. And to our friends and family and artistic peers I think it's sometimes obvious what purpose is aiming at a person and we can support one another by reflecting that back to me so they can start to see it.
Actually the inclusion of the Pressfield quote was a very nice wrap up for your piece. I've been thinking about War of Art lately, even pulled it off my shelf and set it aside for another reading. Your point about needing to engage what is interesting to us is non-negotiable I think. Ignoring one's natural interests is like hiding from the sun.
The thing that can be difficult is realizing what we're actually interested in or not denying what that is.
Yes! And at that point we're talking about the need for diligent personal growth and self-awareness work, that in some cases even demands confronting childhood trauma, early life failures, the presence of hidden shame, and more if we want to reconnect to the root of our life force. That's where a community of others is so useful. I was reading Paul Millerd's latest piece and he said this interesting thing, "You can't aim at purpose." I think that's true in many ways, but I said that doesn 't stop purpose from aiming at us. And to our friends and family and artistic peers I think it's sometimes obvious what purpose is aiming at a person and we can support one another by reflecting that back to me so they can start to see it.
Follow your fascination. This has been my mantra forever and you wrote about it brilliantly. Thank you.