Mini crash course

I’ve seen jokes about people having a CV for dating; so when they get into the talking stage, they can just hand it over. But this weekend, I realized something: if you leave pockets of your life experiences and thoughts in different forms, especially ones that require little external validation, you create a crash course for people to get to know you.

I met someone and listened to their fairly private podcast; in a short time, I felt like I had a deeper understanding of them. The lack of external validation is what makes it meaningful because it keeps the content pure.

It’s fascinating because, otherwise, these things might fade from memory. So now, I’m even more committed to writing; casually, without overthinking.

I read something I had written a while back, and honestly, as someone with a terrible memory, these things help me understand my own life; how I’ve moved through different phases.

Helps people understand you. Helps you understand yourself.

Speaking of understanding myself, I’m increasingly aware of how much I optimize my life for peace; it makes me somewhat self-centered, but in the chaos of life, I realize how much I crave calm. I want still waters. I want to control what little I can; and that means removing myself from situations that cause me to stress out.

Also, I am stubborn; stubborn to accept that something will unfold a certain way, even when it’s obvious.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stick to my marathon training in Nairobi, but I refused to put my plans on holiday mode; I wanted to force myself to run. Day 1, I made it. But after that, I didn’t; and now I have a missing week to reorganize.

But stubbornness isn’t always bad.

1. I got a run in.
2. In some situations, I would have pushed through.

And outside of running, this same stubbornness manifests as grit; the thing that allows me to make the impossible happen.

I’m not going to overthink this just to make it longer; I want to actually post today.

Here’s to leaving footprints that give people a picture of what our lives were like; and for ourselves, a way to see how we moved through phases.