89 Comments
User's avatar
Will's avatar

Feet on the ground, breathe through the ass.

shani's avatar

this post is worth a million bucks goddamn

Sasha Chapin's avatar

when you become a billionaire i will retroactively accept the market value you have selected

Steve's avatar

Most of what is on the Internets is garbage. This is not.

sol s⊙therland 🔸's avatar

fully agree. Which one was your favourite, shani?

Rey Barceló's avatar

Your insight in 15 (confident people are fluid with status) is so spot-on.

In my experience, truly confident people refrain from creating a sense of self, clinging to neither praise nor blame.

Thank you for these 🔥

Alex Michael's avatar

These are excellent!

I would be curious to hear your expanded thoughts on environment and place-choosing, both as it relates to ways of evaluating places as well as when this thinking crosses the line into escapism/distraction/unsettledness.

Sasha Chapin's avatar

will put this on the list of topics, thanks!

Brian Wiesner's avatar

I enjoy jamming on this topic. I think that where you live—the city, the country, the type of people it attracts — has more impact on your well being than any other factor.

Use a website like nomadlist to find places you might enjoy and then try living a "mini-life" there for 30+ days to see what it would be like.

I wrote about choosing a new home, maybe you'll find it useful: https://serendipitylab.substack.com/p/on-finding-a-new-home

Alex Michael's avatar

Thanks for sharing - just gave it a read, enjoyed it and will comment on the post.

David Kiferbaum's avatar

I ended up highlighting into readwise about every other item here. What a treasure trove of wisdom!!

t.'s avatar

in a post full of heavy hitters, love that “breathe thru your asshole” and “think about your feet” are so immediately, resoundingly effective

Factorial Zero's avatar

Will sit down and read through this soon. Love the concept 🙂

Anvita's avatar

Do you have any other posts where you talk about the appreciative/evaluative distinction? Or maybe recommendations to other pieces of writing? It feels deep and real and I want to be able to bring it up to people who seem stuck in one of the two modes.

Sasha Chapin's avatar

i wrote this brief post about it a long time ago — my evaluative side obliges me to mention that it's not my best work, and i'd significantly rewrite it now: https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/two-modes-of-being

https://innerwilds.blog/p/solving-mcgilchrists-big-problem < this is some more substantial material on the subject!

Meredith Liben's avatar

This felt like it was written straight to me and to the people I most love. I’m sharing it. Thank you.

Andreas's avatar

Many good points. But #42 ruined your credibility.

Calibre Fairfax's avatar

Actually, #42 was mind-blowing. If you're right, it ruined 1/50 and you're an asshole. But if you're wrong, it ruined 0/50 yet you're still an asshole. So where's your credibility, genius?

Bill Russell's avatar

And here I thought #42 was one of the best on this sterling list.

Muster the Squirrels's avatar

Great list. I really appreciate content like this. Also admirably succinct; I would've needed additional sentences to express each point.

> I know that the people who will make you feel warm and fuzzy when you’re sad, and the people who will give you brutally honest feedback, are usually different people.

Are there characters in well-known movies who plausibly model both, whether or not in the same scene? Particularly interested in male ones.

> The world will be happiest with a certain range of behaviors from you—life will be easier if you find a place in that range where you’re content. David Whyte calls this the conversational nature of reality, and he is correct about the importance of this concept.

I looked this up, and found a few good excerpts from Whyte near the bottom of https://jonathanrowson.substack.com/p/the-conversational-nature-of-reality

Tom Crosse's avatar

Sasha you’re one of the only writers I follow that can reach out and touch me with words

Leon's avatar

Regarding #50, this is something I love about the music scene in Britain, and maybe elsewhere too. After someone plays, the accepted etiquette is to always say "that was a great set"

Dakota Gale's avatar

Lots of wisdom per ounce here, nicely done!

One level up on the ginger I learned after years using a spoon: don't even bother peeling it. Works perfectly! https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-never-peel-ginger-23604549

Steve's avatar

Until I have time to go through this, here is the opposite, kind of. Though it is funny.

https://patorjk.com/misc/chainletters/179waystoannoypeople.htm

Sasha Chapin's avatar

this is exactly my kind of juvenile, thank you

Elis Popescu's avatar

Such a great read as always, Sasha!

I am very curious if you have ‘a system’ for Internalizing these to a point that they become part of how you act.

After I finish my cup of coffee and get back to my routine, I will most likely forget most of the advice, and my auto-pilot system 1 will drive with very little change from before.

How did you come to REALLY know all ghe above and to integrate them in your daily life? Some are habits, some are tricks to keep in mind, some are one time thing. What has worked for you to make learning these a more deliberate act, and not something you remember doing only when you read it online (which is what I do most of the time)?

Sasha Chapin's avatar

i think honestly it's just reinforcement — each one of these has come up repeatedly in my life and i've learned quite slowly overall!