There’s too much going on all at once: things to do, things to buy, friends to compare yourself to. People getting new jobs, getting engaged, getting married, having children, moving to Hawaii, moving to Colorado, moving back to SF; people starting new diets, starting Substacks and OnlyFans, asking you to watch their Youtube videos. We’re ruled by the constant obligation to create and consume and keep up with our peers. It makes feel vaguely nauseous. You could describe it as the nausea of modernity: too much information, too much optionality and not enough focus.
I love this idea of commitment as an antidote to existential dread. I was first introduced to what I think of as "commitment as a defense against the void" via this Masters of Scale podcast episode with Shellye Archambeau. What got me about that interview was how throughout her life she always seemed so sure of her self. Whatever she wanted to do, she committed to it, set a plan, and iterated on the plan until she got there. That's it. It was mind blowing to someone like me who always wanted "options" and "freedom" and was obsessed with the idea that "I could be anyone if I really tried hard enough". After listing to the podcast, I realized that my way of thinking was handicapping my ability to get anything done. So I sat down, drafted a 5 to 10 year plan, and worked backwards to determine the steps I would take. And then I took those steps, adjusting based on intermediate results. It was scary at first to think that I would be pigeonholing myself into this one grand plan, this one direction, but soon I realized it was actually the opposite. The more I worked at it, the more confidence I got from realizing I was making my dream come true. And like you're saying, it helped me find a sort of peace that no one can disturb. By achieving my initial plans and filling my life with contentedness, I've been able to open up my mind and spirit to even more opportunities than I thought were possible before. I hope more people can find this kind of peace in their lives. Thanks for writing about it.
This was so great. It's amazing how much closer the void is than one might expect -- I once binged https://www.youtube.com/c/InvisiblePeople/videos and what's remarkable is how a single hit of heroin, a car accident, infidelity, or a layoff can suck people into the void and then it's so difficult to get out. It's easy in those moments to feel deep loss but much harder to cultivate gratitude before everything is gone.
I love this idea of commitment as an antidote to existential dread. I was first introduced to what I think of as "commitment as a defense against the void" via this Masters of Scale podcast episode with Shellye Archambeau. What got me about that interview was how throughout her life she always seemed so sure of her self. Whatever she wanted to do, she committed to it, set a plan, and iterated on the plan until she got there. That's it. It was mind blowing to someone like me who always wanted "options" and "freedom" and was obsessed with the idea that "I could be anyone if I really tried hard enough". After listing to the podcast, I realized that my way of thinking was handicapping my ability to get anything done. So I sat down, drafted a 5 to 10 year plan, and worked backwards to determine the steps I would take. And then I took those steps, adjusting based on intermediate results. It was scary at first to think that I would be pigeonholing myself into this one grand plan, this one direction, but soon I realized it was actually the opposite. The more I worked at it, the more confidence I got from realizing I was making my dream come true. And like you're saying, it helped me find a sort of peace that no one can disturb. By achieving my initial plans and filling my life with contentedness, I've been able to open up my mind and spirit to even more opportunities than I thought were possible before. I hope more people can find this kind of peace in their lives. Thanks for writing about it.
This was so great. It's amazing how much closer the void is than one might expect -- I once binged https://www.youtube.com/c/InvisiblePeople/videos and what's remarkable is how a single hit of heroin, a car accident, infidelity, or a layoff can suck people into the void and then it's so difficult to get out. It's easy in those moments to feel deep loss but much harder to cultivate gratitude before everything is gone.