I wonder if humans can survive the modern age. We are so wired for small intimate collections of people. Our brains just cant figure out how to react to instant global communication. The disasters weigh us down. Internet fights give our brains a hit of dopamine. Advertising makes our brains hungry for more shit. I like your point that it is true connection that makes us happy. Our brains can handle the familiar and the face to face.
So well written and to the point. It seems as though the world is accelerated complexity. But the simplicity with which our value is removed overcomes us.
The parallels between the “rules” that drive disordered eating and striving for perfection reoriented my brain a bit to where I can now see the behaviors I used to display in one way I am STILL trapped in, just in another way. This little piece changed my life a little bit. Thank you, Lauren.
Amen, Sadie!! I am still sorting through some of that nonsense. When I’m stuck in my head, it helps me to connect to how any given choice actually feels in my body 😅
I have been vegan since 1987 but buying a new pair of Birkenstock Boston suede clogs a couple of weeks ago made me (and my feet) so happy. I am fully expecting the side eyes I am going to get from my fellow vegans when they find out, but too bad! I am the same person, just with more comfortable shoes. No one has to be perfect, just do what you feel comfortable doing to make the world a better place.
The metaphors that first come to mind--keeping gas in the tank and putting on your own oxygen mask first--are the exact wrong ones to use here. But thank you for this, some of us need reminding to take care of ourselves and each other first and foremost. 💜
Dick Cavett (who is still above ground) wrote an essay once about his life with severe depression. He told how one night while doing his TV show, he thought it was just terrible. He could barely drag himself through it. He was almost in tears at the end. Then he said years later, when his mental health was better, he watched a tape of that show, and he saw it was actually really good.
Some day you may see "How to Start a Revolution" the same way. Yes, we have discovered that getting the low-propensity voters out for a once-every-four-years exercise no longer works in our favor, indeed, even against us. But the solution is to turn young people into engaged members of society, who are comparatively immune to racism, antivax, misogyny, arguments against due process and all that other vileness in circulation. My kids didn't need it: they were raised that way. Others do. Anomie is our enemy.
On conservation: a few years ago the >100-year-old water main under our street ruptured. A couple years worth of our total water use—much less what we had saved with less flushing, drought-resistant plants, and so on—went literally down the drain (OK, the storm sewer) before the utility could shut it off and fix it. Man plans, God laughs.
What a trip that Dick Cavett story is! Your consistently have the most interesting insights on depression. The weather (in and outside of my head) is pleasant enough today that I am choosing to see the water main rupture as a gushing guarantee of the unexpected :P
So the Amish were right after all! :) I love this discussion—it's heading in the right direction. And as the proverb says, 'If you find you're going in the right direction, keep walking!'
I wonder if humans can survive the modern age. We are so wired for small intimate collections of people. Our brains just cant figure out how to react to instant global communication. The disasters weigh us down. Internet fights give our brains a hit of dopamine. Advertising makes our brains hungry for more shit. I like your point that it is true connection that makes us happy. Our brains can handle the familiar and the face to face.
Now we just need to run around and face-to-face convince everyone real life is the realest!
So well written and to the point. It seems as though the world is accelerated complexity. But the simplicity with which our value is removed overcomes us.
Thank you so much, Don — this made me smile :)
I’m going with you Lauren Fushia !
I’m going with you Lauren Fushia !
The parallels between the “rules” that drive disordered eating and striving for perfection reoriented my brain a bit to where I can now see the behaviors I used to display in one way I am STILL trapped in, just in another way. This little piece changed my life a little bit. Thank you, Lauren.
Amen, Sadie!! I am still sorting through some of that nonsense. When I’m stuck in my head, it helps me to connect to how any given choice actually feels in my body 😅
I have been vegan since 1987 but buying a new pair of Birkenstock Boston suede clogs a couple of weeks ago made me (and my feet) so happy. I am fully expecting the side eyes I am going to get from my fellow vegans when they find out, but too bad! I am the same person, just with more comfortable shoes. No one has to be perfect, just do what you feel comfortable doing to make the world a better place.
Lane these shoes sound so cute 😭🙏 p.s. have you got a favorite vegan recipes after all those years?
A favourite vegan recipe… hmmm. It changes so often. My go to a pad thai because you can never have too much pad thai. I add some broccoli for crunch.
https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-pad-thai
🤤omg yesss thank you for this
Maybe give ourselves permission to be pale green? Or green with yellow accents? Or orange? Or Purple!
Trying to be perfectly green and living in the US is impossible. Eating food. Drinking water. Shoes.
Do better. Cut ourselves some slack.
Thanks for being there! Lisa
Ahaha okay I'm officially going for fuchsia
The metaphors that first come to mind--keeping gas in the tank and putting on your own oxygen mask first--are the exact wrong ones to use here. But thank you for this, some of us need reminding to take care of ourselves and each other first and foremost. 💜
**nodding in agreement while I put on my oxygen mask**
Dick Cavett (who is still above ground) wrote an essay once about his life with severe depression. He told how one night while doing his TV show, he thought it was just terrible. He could barely drag himself through it. He was almost in tears at the end. Then he said years later, when his mental health was better, he watched a tape of that show, and he saw it was actually really good.
Some day you may see "How to Start a Revolution" the same way. Yes, we have discovered that getting the low-propensity voters out for a once-every-four-years exercise no longer works in our favor, indeed, even against us. But the solution is to turn young people into engaged members of society, who are comparatively immune to racism, antivax, misogyny, arguments against due process and all that other vileness in circulation. My kids didn't need it: they were raised that way. Others do. Anomie is our enemy.
On conservation: a few years ago the >100-year-old water main under our street ruptured. A couple years worth of our total water use—much less what we had saved with less flushing, drought-resistant plants, and so on—went literally down the drain (OK, the storm sewer) before the utility could shut it off and fix it. Man plans, God laughs.
What a trip that Dick Cavett story is! Your consistently have the most interesting insights on depression. The weather (in and outside of my head) is pleasant enough today that I am choosing to see the water main rupture as a gushing guarantee of the unexpected :P
I can't paste pictures here.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0304q4So5sUGBLQwIJ-9osoPQ
So the Amish were right after all! :) I love this discussion—it's heading in the right direction. And as the proverb says, 'If you find you're going in the right direction, keep walking!'
This is going to make me leap up and go for a literal walk right now — happy Sunday, Ken!!
❤️