By reading I learn about a wide range of subjects. I descover similarities between subjects that may not be visible to others. Often, I find trends that change my behavior which can be stressful because new ideas push me out of my comfort zone. Over the years my reading has fluctuated, depending on work, school, and life. I recently decided to read more.
I enjoy reading a book while listening to the audiobook version simultaneously. Unless I've previously read the book, I never listen to the audiobook without the book in hand. Reading while listening helps me read faster, stay focused, and comprehension more.
Here's a list of the books I've read over the past sixty days. (Not in order and not all audiobooks):
Mating in Captivity--Ester Perel
Between the World and Me--Ta-Nehisi Coates
Poke the Box--Seth Godin
The Wisdom of Insecurity--Alan W. Watts
Black Rage--William H. Grier & Price M. Cobbs
The Ethical Slut--Dossie Easton & Catherine A. Liszt
Mortality--Christopher Hitchens
Infectious Madness--Harriet A. Washingron
Benjamin Franklin--Edmund S. Moore
This is one of my favorite spots.
Even though fb has us under surveillance, targets us with advertising, modifies our behavior, and enables foriegn governments to pit us against each other, and interfere in our elections, I still love it.
I'm addicted to fb. I love checking my phone constantly. There's nothing like staring into my phone while my wife is talking to me. I get moist just thinking about being in two places at once--at dinner and on fb. I'm enthusiastic about sacrificing all the great moments, experiences, and pictures of my life to fb for no compensation. I really don't have any problem making Zuckerberg rich by allowing him to sell my personal info. It's not the friends and family on fb--I could meet with them in person or call them on the phone. No, a larger part of my addiction has to do with all the stuff I have to do and go through on the platform to connect with those friends. That's the fun part for me.
Can you say no compensation boys and girls? Lots of great things built in this country were achieved by offering little to no compensation-the country through slavery, the transcontinental railroad through cheap labor. Fb on the other hand is being built through my addiction to all of the aforementioned activities it promotes. I willing engage day and night to my own detriment to make fb one of the wealthiest computer companies in history.
I'm currently experiencing withdrawal symptoms as a result of pulling the plug on social media. I miss it. I feel lonely. Trying to regain dignity and self respect after addiction is challenging. EVERYBODY is on fb. Even though I know that just because something is popular doesn't make it right and just because something is unpopular doesn't make it wrong, I still miss being a part of the herd. I can no longer ignore the fact that the current social media model is unsustainable and overall it hurts me. It's hard to take a stand, in my life, and not lose myself in a popularity arms race.
Until I change my social media habits and stop giving in to the status quo nothing I'm griping about will change. I can engage with anything. The next thing I need to figure out is what's the right thing to be engaged with. I will continue to make content, and engage with my folks, but I'll do it from my own website without all the other stuff that's not so good about social media. Withdrawal sucks until you take responsibility for your own life.
Forbes: Mapping San Francisco's Human Waste Challenge - 132,562 Cases Reported In The Public Way Since 2008. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2019/04/15/mapping-san-franciscos-human-waste-challenge-132562-case-reports-since-2008/
I worked in San Francisco's Tenderloin some years ago. I learned quickly to pay attention to where I stepped. Feces everywhere. It didn't take long for me to learn the difference between human and dog feces.
Where you have opiates you have turds. It's all part of harm reduction. I think harm reduction is a good idea, however as SF residents are finding out, there's a lot more to it than just being lenient on drug use.
I got tired of social media and decided to change my whole get down. I'm no longer allowing fb to place me in the cross hairs--surviellance, targeted adds, Russians, and hate speech. Everything I do on fb. I decided to do right here on my own website. There's a twist. This blog is turning into a subscription service. If you want to read it, you can pay a token fee to have access. That way I won't need advertisers or to sell your info--all the shit that fouls up the social media experience.
Stay tuned.
Six days a week, I do the following exercises: Half Burpee, Knee-to-Elbow Crunch, Mountain Climb, and Jack Knife—each one for thirty seconds. The four exercises equal one set. I do four sets. No rest in between. Next, I do one hundred eleven kettlebell swings with a forty-five pound dumbell, and five to ten Jefferson curls with a sixty pound barbell. My entire workout is quick, efficient, effective, and grueling. I prefer my routine because it requires very little gym equipment. At my gym, I have been stuck waiting for a machine while the person using it takes a call, a selfie, or a nap.
I don't enjoy working out, but I make the sacrifice because I feel great once I finish. I get my ass up, meditate, write, and hit the gym within in the first ninety minutes everyday except Sunday. Working out keeps my weight and blood pressure down, and it helps me manage depression and anxiety. No anxiety or hypertension meds for me.
Working out teaches me to lean into the challenges I face, and the benefit of that transfers to all areas of my life. Learning to tolerate discomfort expands my emotional capacity. Establishing a routine teaches me how to get things done, and building endurance improves my behavior under stress. Strenuous exercise primes me for many tasks I don't like doing. There is something to be said about developing mental toughness.
My partner reports noticing improvement in my posture, and my waistline is shrinking. My clothes feel like they hang on me now, rather than stick to me like Velcro.
The first ninety minutes of the day are so important. Lose there and I feel like I have lost the entire day. I don't know how you start your day, but according to Tim Ferriss in his book, “Tools of the Titans,” eighty percent of titans have a morning ritual that includes meditation and exercise like mine. That's not to say I'm a titan, but I do get a lot done and feel great doing it. So, let me know how you spend the first ninety minutes of your day.
Quitting successfully.
First of all, this is not an advice column. If you do decide to hang it up, based on this article, I’d prefer you not turn around and blame me.
Quitting is very personal. It's a decision only you can make. It can be impulsive, but it doesn't have to be. It's better when it's not. You have to let people close to you know. You may have to deal with the scorn of others who may not understand your reasoning or who may be faced with unexpected changes to their plans as a result of your decision. I wouldn't advise expending the energy required to quit your job, to then turn around, with hat in hand, and ask for your job back. Successful quitting requires some thought. That old adage, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” applies here. Don't use quitting as an attention-grabbing stunt. If you don't want to quit, stay and work it out.
Don't get trapped in upside thinking. Sure it's fun to think about your grand plans and how successful you will be after you quit. That's all swell, but take it from someone with experience quitting, no plan can stand up to actually closing your eyes, letting go of the handrail, and falling backward. There is no way to plan for that.
I don't mean to throw a bucket of cold water or your plan. I just want to point out that even though you need a plan, no amount of planning will prepare you for the way you will feel as you free float in zero gravity. Let me add, don't waste all your precious time getting ready to get ready. Some people stay in the planning stages and never launch. The plan must be executed, at some point.
“If you are not on the edge, you're taking up too much space.” my friend Maurice said. Too much of anything can make you sick, including comfort. Rappers say you can become comfort corrupt. “Silk sheets and down pillows, who the hell would want to wake up.” Insecurity can cost you a bundle. For many people they are not suffering from quitting, they're suffering from staying too long—on the job, in relationships, with addictions. When the horse dies, get off.
You have to accept responsibility to quit—responsibility for your happiness and your decisions. Before you accuse me of going on some narcissistic rant, consider this: if you're unhappy you are making at least six other people around you unhappy. You're not doing anyone any favors by hanging in there and secretly, or not so secretly, resenting them. By letting go you may actually put yourself in a better position to help those around you. At least you may be more pleasant.
We're all damned if we do and damned if we don't. You have to decide for yourself what you want and go for it, but then again you don't have to decide.