In the Midst of Chaos
There is Also Opportunity
I spent the past week lurching around my house due to a reaggravation of a back injury. Serves me right for trying to get into shape by doing squats and lunges. In between bouts of feeling sorry for myself and depressive mental shutdowns I found a bit of clarity to understanding the path forward in my life. There is a quote I read from “Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad“ which sub quotes “Twenty-Four Hours a Day” that reads:
Any man can fight the battles of just one day, it is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we breakdown. It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something that which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefor do our best to live but one day at a time.
I read this and then thought about it for quite a bit of time. The challenges of today are conquerable. We can and will succeed with what we face, its the heaviness of the thoughts of what came yesterday and what will come tomorrow that is seemingly unbeatable. It’s the the invisible assassin, that although we can see ‘em coming because we know where to look, we still succumb to backstab and get crippled, frozen, unable to bear the burden of the day. I need to think about this some more, but I think there is power in knowledge. Power is only focusing on the things you can control that are in front of you, learning from the past and building a foundation for the future.
Some Apps I Love
Portal (iOS)
Portal is what I use mostly instead of music on a daily basis. It’s an escape from reality to the sounds of nature all over the world. It plays off the notion that your surroundings have a great impact on your sleep, productivity, stress levels and overall mental wellbeing.
Available on iOS: Link
What I Am Reading
Meditations
Written in Greek by an intellectual Roman emperor without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Spanning from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods and the values of leadership. But while the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation, in developing his beliefs Marcus also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and ordinary readers for almost two thousand years.
What I Am Playing
Cyberpunk 2077
So we all know what happened at launch, but given time since then this game as worked out a lot of the kinks and problems that plagued it. I am enjoying the world, the exploration, the story and the combat. Night City and its surrounding areas is an exciting romp in a distant, broken society. I played a little of it at launch, then some more when they released the Series X upgrades, but now I find myself looking for something and this is scratching that itch. I’m also a sucker for lootin, shootin and and semblance of RPG character development. You can probably find this for cheap, I highly recommend.
Stray
You know that game you keep seeing in Twitter with the cat? Yea that one. I am not too far into it yet but its a great little indie game where you play as a cat in a cyberpunk type city.
Lost, alone and separated from family, a stray cat must untangle an ancient mystery to escape a long-forgotten cybercity and find their way home.
If you have a PS5 with the new upgraded ps plus then you already have access to this one.
Random Things
Analog Task List
I have a terrible history of staying on topic. Keeping lists, todo apps, sticky notes I have shit everywhere and I still cant keep focus. I recently found this beautiful task list (here) that so far as been a blessing keeping me focused. It’s easy to crutch technology for maintaining a daily list of things that need to get done, but as someone who lives a digital life I needed a separation from it. Keep it simple is the key for me. How will this hold up over weeks, months? We will see. If this is the last article I write then it has failed me miserably.
