🛣️ TREE 811: Where I’m going

Yesterday, I asked where you are going. It’s only fair that I should tell you where I’m headed this year.

My 2025 trajectories:

1. Stop trying to be useful

2. Stop trying to grow

3. Don’t play mind games

4. Enjoy my life and my family

5. Learn BSL

6. Write the story

1. Stop trying to be useful

I read four books purely for pleasure over the holiday break. Most times that I sat down to read I had to fight off a compulsion to get up and do something ‘useful’. My self-conception involves an unhealthy dependence on being useful. I’d like to reduce that dependence this year. The world will be just fine without me constantly running around trying to fix things.

2. Stop trying to grow

I have spent a lot of time working on myself the last 10 years. It’s been good work. Now I’m starting to notice that constant self-reflection can lead to an unintended narcissism. It feels healthy right now to take a break from looking inward.

3. Don’t play mind games

Convolutions like ‘I’m going to stop trying to grow because that’s the way to truly grow’ are merely mechanisms for pretending to do something different without changing my mindset. I want to avoid them.

4. Enjoy my life and my family

Uncomplicated enjoyment is the first way I plan to do 1–3.

5. Learn BSL

If I’m not working on me, I’ve got more brain space available to learn sign language. Level 3 is a lot of work and it needs more of my attention than I’ve given it so far.

6. Write the story

I’ve had a story sitting in my brain for over a year. in 2024, I made very little progress on it. I’d love to get at least the first draft of it written this year. I’ve tweaked my schedule again to give myself more writing time.

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I’ll update you on my progress in a few months.

Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk was one of BBC’s top 25 albums of 2024, so let’s kill a few minutes with this track.

Wishing you happiness,
Jeff