Scarily relevant; literally in the process of my first life blow-up right now. It’s helped to keep my desires firmly in mind (and felt sense) and realize what my life trajectory would be sans excitation.
IMO and in my experience this doesn't work as easily or as well for people with dependants. Having said that, a lot of this is translateable even to a lifestyle with children, more than most people prefer to believe.
It's not only important but necessary to blow up your life routinely. The chaos allows you to observe new perspectives, especially when it's toward a direction you've been afraid to move towards.
What you want most is usually found where you least want to look. Since by elimination, it's the only place you haven't been.
Perhaps one thing to remember is that a combustion engine works by creating a series of controlled explosions. Walking is a series of strategic controlled falls.
I've been strategically setting a series of controlled explosions to get me somewhere better. See you all on the other side in 6 months.
The Iceland anecdote doesn't really prove anything. There's countless examples of communities forced into engineered environments which went terribly downhill.
Thank you. Your sharp post, its provocations, its out-there courage, reminds me (productively thank you!) of a series of my own controlled explosions. Professional and very personal... The only aspect that troubles, rankles, a smidgeon are the late references to likely readers, as being explosees unlikely to lose it all, to fall on serious hard times. I'm not saying you're wrong, at all, in your suppositions of just who [our] substack readers are. But it, the privilege not to fall too too far, to fall and survive only usefully scathed, strikes....
It was very hard to do this when my kid was younger. I felt responsible for providing him a kind of extreme stability. Some of that was because he’s autistic, and when he was younger, things that were perhaps small disruptions or just mild chaos, put him into meltdown territory. Not the case any more, thankfully.
And I suppose most people would find a way to blow up their lives that was more gentle than opening their marriage of 20 years, and I can’t recommend it to anyone else, but it really did refresh my life. It was extreme enough to blow through any number of local maxima, especially the ones that were held in place by historical stalemate. And the communication that was necessary to make nonmonogamy work, opened up a lot of intimacy between my wife and me.
It’s hard to beat that one, but the meditation retreat I went on at the end of the year broke through my own conditioning structure in much the same way.
I’ll be keeping this in mind as we explore the new normals of climate change and Covid aftermath and friends - thanks for penning another timely and thoughtful nugget, Sasha - Cheers <3
65, and still "blowing up my life" as often as possible. The biggest upside is the questions are answered.
Scarily relevant; literally in the process of my first life blow-up right now. It’s helped to keep my desires firmly in mind (and felt sense) and realize what my life trajectory would be sans excitation.
IMO and in my experience this doesn't work as easily or as well for people with dependants. Having said that, a lot of this is translateable even to a lifestyle with children, more than most people prefer to believe.
Thank you for sharing Sasha.
It's not only important but necessary to blow up your life routinely. The chaos allows you to observe new perspectives, especially when it's toward a direction you've been afraid to move towards.
What you want most is usually found where you least want to look. Since by elimination, it's the only place you haven't been.
Perhaps one thing to remember is that a combustion engine works by creating a series of controlled explosions. Walking is a series of strategic controlled falls.
I've been strategically setting a series of controlled explosions to get me somewhere better. See you all on the other side in 6 months.
The Iceland anecdote doesn't really prove anything. There's countless examples of communities forced into engineered environments which went terribly downhill.
I left my husband and quit my job within 6 months time. Best thing I ever did!
Thank you. Your sharp post, its provocations, its out-there courage, reminds me (productively thank you!) of a series of my own controlled explosions. Professional and very personal... The only aspect that troubles, rankles, a smidgeon are the late references to likely readers, as being explosees unlikely to lose it all, to fall on serious hard times. I'm not saying you're wrong, at all, in your suppositions of just who [our] substack readers are. But it, the privilege not to fall too too far, to fall and survive only usefully scathed, strikes....
It was very hard to do this when my kid was younger. I felt responsible for providing him a kind of extreme stability. Some of that was because he’s autistic, and when he was younger, things that were perhaps small disruptions or just mild chaos, put him into meltdown territory. Not the case any more, thankfully.
And I suppose most people would find a way to blow up their lives that was more gentle than opening their marriage of 20 years, and I can’t recommend it to anyone else, but it really did refresh my life. It was extreme enough to blow through any number of local maxima, especially the ones that were held in place by historical stalemate. And the communication that was necessary to make nonmonogamy work, opened up a lot of intimacy between my wife and me.
It’s hard to beat that one, but the meditation retreat I went on at the end of the year broke through my own conditioning structure in much the same way.
I’m still integrating both of these things.
Hi Sasha. I don't get the last sentence. There always are what? Other than that: nice read and an interesting idea.
I’ll be keeping this in mind as we explore the new normals of climate change and Covid aftermath and friends - thanks for penning another timely and thoughtful nugget, Sasha - Cheers <3