Something to Keep
“The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.”
David Foster Wallace
A Second Look
Much of the suffering in our lives comes from the gap between what we want and the reality of achieving it. When you imagine having a six-pack, you’re only thinking about the result and not the process of working out religiously and eating healthy. The same goes for pretty much everything: our relationships, jobs, possessions, and so on.
Whether you like it or not, you have to face the truth. And the truth won’t go away until you’ve accepted it. The truth will hurt, annoy, or depress you. But the truth doesn’t care. You can either avoid it (but only for so long) or you can accept it and move on to eventually face another truth.
You can’t get the benefits of something without paying the cost. The happy marriage comes with the fights, the strong friendship requires uncomfortable conversations, and so on. All things in life are a tradeoff, and you can’t reap the reward if you didn’t pay the price first.
Something I Liked
You can tell I’m getting closer to my 40s by looking at the things that excite me. Sick guitar solos, World War II documentaries, and… male fashion? Yes, learning about male fashion has been the most exciting thing I’ve done lately. My favorite resource has been The Essential Man blog. If you ever wondered how a denim jacket should fit a man or how to write thank-you notes, this site has you covered.
My favorite blog post and the one I keep going back to is the guide on how to create a capsule wardrobe for men. Before knowing anything about male fashion, the concept seemed too complex and overwhelming. What I like about that blog post is that it simplifies everything to a handful of rules anyone can understand.
The next thing I want to learn is interior design. I already have a bunch of resources lined up; we’ll see how it goes.