I will say this: Sometimes the activism needs to be for yourself first and foremost. You can't help the world if you can barely help yourself. "Clean up your own house" means understanding why you are the way you are, seeking help to get clarification, and pushing yourself to not get caught up on the trivial many.
Hesitation means no. So, when you hestitate, ask why and break it down, or at least for me.
Then again, I am a trauma filled man who can barely function, so don't listen to what I have to say haha
Most important comment: YES, you should visit every country in the world again! Didn't know you did it once before! GO GET IT I say! You might be my long lost brother!
HARD for me was realizing I needed to file for divorce and admit failure. My definition of insanity would have been staying with the man who thought he owned and operated me like his Ford Edge - except he liked his car and treated it well, unlike how he treated me. I researched and researched and researched (I do have ADHD after all...we're EXPERTS with research) the best possible way to leave a covert malignant narcissist, served up with a side of anti-social personality disorder. Answer: there isn't one. Rip off the bandaid and be prepared to hemorrhage. Thank God for the Navy and months out to sea....for him, not me!
So in preparation for all the hemorrhaging and possible death of the rest of me (my soul was long gone at that point), I took myself on a "sabbatical" while my husband was away on deployment. I packed my carryon with enough clothes to get my by, donned my laptop, my friend's mom drove in from NM to be my house/cat sitter, and I found myself sitting at the bar at the San Diego airport. "Too late now," I thought. "Here I go!" I flew to Istanbul. Then Cairo. Then Crete. Then Athens where I got on a Viking cruise and ended up in Venice. I had the time of my life with perfect strangers who became - and still ARE - people I call my friends. My month-long trip gave me the strength and courage to take the leap! I knew I wasn't happy, but I didn't realized just how miserable I had become.
And believe it or not, there is one MORE blessing in disguise that I didn't realize was SO HUGE at the time. I traveled during Covid - when it was bad and when we had to have negative tests in-hand to even get on a plane. We had exposure tracking devices on the cruise and had to leave a tube of spit on the end of my bed every day! I never got Covid and my nasal passages were bloody at times from the badly-administered Covid tests. But what I did get was cheap travel and hotels because everyone was too afraid to take the chance. I was, too! I stepped outside my cozy comfort zone and went for it. Best decision I have ever made, with memories and photos I never have to give back or lose in my divorce!
Wanderlust is wonderful. There's a lot to explore out there! Go find what makes you tick.
1. I’m not sure I do so many hard things anymore and I think it’s because trying to parent well uses up more brain and emotional energy than I expected. Or maybe it’s about a definition of hard? Once I’ve done the things I didn’t want to do they don’t feel like they were so hard after all.
Thanks for making me think about it.
3. If it’s a standard set of flavours and I had to choose, probably pistachio. This is why I like my ice cream tour. You get to taste/eat more than 20. 😘
4. I was recently thinking about how you went to all of the countries and I was wondering if there’s something that makes you want to be on the move or something about being in constant motion?
I know I like hotel rooms because then I feel like my life is simple and I have a legitimate reason for not addressing things. I also like travel because it makes me feel alive and give me a new perspective and inspiration, so it’s a combination of “away” and “toward” reasons behind it for me.
1. The last really hard thing I did is still ongoing and that is parenting my kid. I knew parenting wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't know I would have a kid with a nervous system disability and how much harder that would be. Outside of that was teaching online during a 7 month lockdown.
2. I think the premise is fine. What's missing for me is dealing with the nuance. Don't overwork, but don't be lazy — that's easy to say, but the reality is complicated. How do you find the line? How do you know when you've gone too far? How do you avoid burnout? How do you know when your well-deserved break has turned into a problem? How do you really know what your potential is? How do you know what someone else's potential is? Maybe he's a good swimmer and maybe pushing him to be a better swimmer will ruin swimming for him. Whose decision is that? How do you know what the right things are? When is it time to heed someone's advice? When is it time to say thanks but no?
3. My favorite flavor of ice cream is often the one I haven't tried yet. I always like to check out different flavor combinations. Christina's in Inman Square is always a good place to expand your flavor palate. Here in Prague, I dig Amato.
4. Visiting isn't the same as living somewhere else. If you really want a challenge and a change of perspective, move to a country where you don't speak the language. Then dig into what daily life is like: setting up internet, electricity, phone, ordering food at the market, ordering food in a restaurant, grandmas yelling at you for some social faux-pas, getting repairs on your apartment...
Chris, these posts have been ice cream: good every time. (And worth keeping in the freezer for later.) The most recent hard thing: housesitting for weeks on the beautiful island of Vieques—stay with me—where I couldn't sleep at night because our neighborhood was a cacophony of barking dogs, barking frogs and crowing roosters through all the wee hours, night after night. But my bleary eyes were bathed by the sights of spectacular island beaches every day, so maybe it wasn't that hard.
You should, of course, visit every country in the world again—they miss you. I will happily be your valet if you only have a carry-on.
I think there's some subjectivity here that can be self-contradictory. For instance, if you went to pretty much any gym and asked people who work out regularly to optimize their fitness level if they were doing what made them happy while in the gym, they'd probably say yes. At the same time, they'd admit that getting more fit is a struggle, it can be painful... Yet they show up because of the goal in mind.
So they are happy, while at the same time bringing physical discomfort to themselves voluntarily.
Another example of this that stands out for me is if you play poker. Anyone who has ever played poker online against computer opponents will tell you its very frustrating and depressing, because all you have to do to get the computer opponents to fold is raise a huge amount. Where, in a game against real people, if you raise a huge amount, people will still challenge you and you'll often lose. In a game against real opponents, the randomness and unknown quantity of the game is actually satisfying. It feels natural. You inherently know you are beating the odds when things go your way...
So in this sense, it makes you happy to lose at times in a real game. You know when that happens, that you are facing a real challenge and there's the potential to overcome it.
So sometimes doing what makes you happy is equal to dealing with pain or failure. As human beings we seem to have an innate need for challenge in some form. This is one of the reasons why the children of rich parents often end up getting themselves into a lot of trouble as adults. They really don't face any inherent challenges. Their lives are all secure as long as they go along with what their parents want.
I think human beings crave insecurity to some degree. It makes us happy to try to overcome it.
Someone asked once, maybe W.C. Fields, "what would we do if we woke up one day, and had no problems?" - if you woke up and every little thing you needed or wanted was suddenly taken care of and provided for you? People would probably go insane. We need problems. They make us happy. Give us a purpose in life...even if that purpose is rather delusional...
After all, someday an asteroid may hit Earth and wipe out the entire human race, and then all our struggles and challenges and accomplishments will ultimately amount to nothing. But we still have to have something to do with our lives...
This came at a perfect time for me. It's a reminder that I need to be doing things that aren't always fun. The last thing I did that was really hard was this morning. Setting a timer for 30 minutes to write. Didn't have anything in mind so it was more of a brain dump, but even doing that was hard. The temptation was to give up early and go do something else that felt more fun like social media.
Picking a favorite flavor is tough but I'll go with a recent flavor I had and that's Haagen Daaz strawberry cheesecake. Too easy to eat a whole pint of that in one sitting.
What would your purpose to visit every country again? I think you should if you're been seriously thinking about it. Has it been done before?
I watched a min-series on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy recently. And the main character said this: As long as there is life, there is happiness (which is a quote from the book). Sure we can break happy down in an existential way, but sometimes when I don’t overthink it, I’m moved by the simplicity of Tolstoy’s words. I also genuinely believe some people are happy going to the gym, getting fit, struggling to pursue their passions, being involved in activism. If you aren’t happy doing it, I’d advocate for change, because there’s so much more before you.
Thanks for the post! love this theme and I've been thinking about this for a while since habits/rituals/routines are very interesting to me as a form of mental health stability. Personally, I have noticed it is such a balance of being with my "present self" in the moment while also thinking of my "future self" while also thinking of my "higher self." When it comes to exercise for instance (since I know this is a common place where emotions get the best of us), my present self might say I am too tired, but my future self knows I will be happy if I go for that walk or take that pilates class. My "higher self" knows I am living in alignment with my values of health. Psychology would say, take action in alignment with your values. But sometimes I can run into values conflict because health might also mean prioritizing rest. When I notice there are a lot of conflicts between the various pieces of myself, I realize my mind is then looking for one "right" answer. I don't think there can be one. We make choices and we get to learn from them and move on. For instance, if I listened to my present self that I need rest and later regretted the decision, I would want to remember that for my future self. I want to learn and discern for myself what choices feel "wise"-- knowing that might be different in different scenarios. I don't want to live by societies standards of what I "should" be doing. I want to lean on my inner compass.
I really love this post, as I think it gets to the heart of something very human. It’s the act of balance, and (thanks to you sharing your annual reviews and me seeing them years back) my mantra for this year is finding that balance. I know I can buckle down and work hard, have done that many times over my life and I have been able to make dreams come true that way. However… I am a person who cares about a lot of things. I can make things happen, but not all the way across the board of my own radar of things all at the same time. For years I’ve had a sort of mantra for daily life: I can do three things in a day. That might be native plant gardening, writing, and riding my horse. Or it might be a big home or farm project, writing, and client work. I know that doing more than three pushes the boundary of health and well-being for me. But across the days, the hard thing is finding the right balance so I feel like I’m moving forward with the things that matter most to me. Time with family, which includes my many animals and now two grandchildren. Activist things, land conservation, etc. I am working this year in figuring out some ways to keep the days manageable while also advancing my overall goals. It is hard! But worthwhile. RE: the ice cream - this weekend I met with two of my long-time writing women friends in our monthly Zoom-based writing weekend. We started it in 2020 when news of the pandemic put a stop to our twice a year week+ retreats together. One of us is 80 now and recently had a fall which is meaning for her several months of dental surgeries and some tenderness in the mouth as she goes through them. Her new goal is to try every one of the Haagen-Daz flavors. She enjoyed vanilla swiss almond as we met on Friday evening. :) What a way to find something good in a rough time. The balancing act includes shifting when needed, right? And finding what works no matter what life tosses our way. I have two favorite H-D flavors: coffee and rum raisin!
"What was the last really hard thing you did?" —> Navigating a divorce I didn't want, homelessness, and unemployment for 9 months simultaneously — and its still going on. The absolute hardest thing I've had to take on in my life — I get up every day and work to get on my feet, yet it feels as if I'm in an endless pool swimming laps from here to eternity—treading water with no horizon in sight.
I've framed it as being guided by what I love — if I love something enough, I'll likely go through many challenges for it, because my love outweighs my fear of discomfort. I could also frame it as the love of one thing outweighing the enjoyment of another.
And, on the flip side, I have compassion for subconscious secondary gains — for example, a young man smoking because he associates that with heart-to-heart talks, bonding time, and taking a deep breath. Maybe someone stays up super late because they feel so much pressure during the day when around other people.
We verbalize those gains so that we can find a way to build up other — more beneficial in the long run — behaviors that can fulfill a similar want.
As for ice cream flavors... I like plain sweet cream. But avocado with a small drizzle of honey or stevia or blended with ice can hit the spot. It sounds weird to Americans, but is quite common in east Asian cultures and full of heart-healthy fats!
This reminds me of some great lessons on happiness from Gretchen Rubin who says:
"To be happier, we have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. ... (this) accounts for a paradox I noticed within happiness: sometimes, happiness doesn’t make us feel happy."
I spent 10 years trying to break into UX design before finally accepting a job offer last year. I was making good money doing graphic design in the marketing dept of a FAANG company, but wanted to do something that was more aligned with my interests. There were so many times during those 10 years that I thought about giving up, but something in me kept telling me to try again. This role isn't perfect, but it has definitely reignited my career and my sense of self, and I'm glad that I put in the work to get here. It's often said that the journey more rewarding than the goal, and while my journey was long and arduous, it taught me a few lessons that I'll keep forever.
I also had a dream of playing for the New York Knicks, but that one probably won't happen.
Hey Chris, this has been done (by you!) "Should I visit every country in the world again?" so it's a bit boring ;) and honestly sort of reflects your "old" mindset that says you need to do the MOST, BEST, HIGHEST VOLUME...it's very outcome, metric, achievement focused. I would love to see you do something that reflects the new version of you, something more creative and truly inspired that comes from deep in your soul and does not have a predictable metric (or Guiness record) attached to it. I would love to see something that makes you uncomfortable because there is no "achievement" associated to it and you might even feel nervous or think "that's boring, who will want to hear about that"...it's probably a good sign if you feel an inner sense of peace about what you do, but worry that it's too small, not exciting enough or doesn't require enough work :)
I will say this: Sometimes the activism needs to be for yourself first and foremost. You can't help the world if you can barely help yourself. "Clean up your own house" means understanding why you are the way you are, seeking help to get clarification, and pushing yourself to not get caught up on the trivial many.
Hesitation means no. So, when you hestitate, ask why and break it down, or at least for me.
Then again, I am a trauma filled man who can barely function, so don't listen to what I have to say haha
Most important comment: YES, you should visit every country in the world again! Didn't know you did it once before! GO GET IT I say! You might be my long lost brother!
HARD for me was realizing I needed to file for divorce and admit failure. My definition of insanity would have been staying with the man who thought he owned and operated me like his Ford Edge - except he liked his car and treated it well, unlike how he treated me. I researched and researched and researched (I do have ADHD after all...we're EXPERTS with research) the best possible way to leave a covert malignant narcissist, served up with a side of anti-social personality disorder. Answer: there isn't one. Rip off the bandaid and be prepared to hemorrhage. Thank God for the Navy and months out to sea....for him, not me!
So in preparation for all the hemorrhaging and possible death of the rest of me (my soul was long gone at that point), I took myself on a "sabbatical" while my husband was away on deployment. I packed my carryon with enough clothes to get my by, donned my laptop, my friend's mom drove in from NM to be my house/cat sitter, and I found myself sitting at the bar at the San Diego airport. "Too late now," I thought. "Here I go!" I flew to Istanbul. Then Cairo. Then Crete. Then Athens where I got on a Viking cruise and ended up in Venice. I had the time of my life with perfect strangers who became - and still ARE - people I call my friends. My month-long trip gave me the strength and courage to take the leap! I knew I wasn't happy, but I didn't realized just how miserable I had become.
And believe it or not, there is one MORE blessing in disguise that I didn't realize was SO HUGE at the time. I traveled during Covid - when it was bad and when we had to have negative tests in-hand to even get on a plane. We had exposure tracking devices on the cruise and had to leave a tube of spit on the end of my bed every day! I never got Covid and my nasal passages were bloody at times from the badly-administered Covid tests. But what I did get was cheap travel and hotels because everyone was too afraid to take the chance. I was, too! I stepped outside my cozy comfort zone and went for it. Best decision I have ever made, with memories and photos I never have to give back or lose in my divorce!
Wanderlust is wonderful. There's a lot to explore out there! Go find what makes you tick.
1. I’m not sure I do so many hard things anymore and I think it’s because trying to parent well uses up more brain and emotional energy than I expected. Or maybe it’s about a definition of hard? Once I’ve done the things I didn’t want to do they don’t feel like they were so hard after all.
Thanks for making me think about it.
3. If it’s a standard set of flavours and I had to choose, probably pistachio. This is why I like my ice cream tour. You get to taste/eat more than 20. 😘
4. I was recently thinking about how you went to all of the countries and I was wondering if there’s something that makes you want to be on the move or something about being in constant motion?
I know I like hotel rooms because then I feel like my life is simple and I have a legitimate reason for not addressing things. I also like travel because it makes me feel alive and give me a new perspective and inspiration, so it’s a combination of “away” and “toward” reasons behind it for me.
1. The last really hard thing I did is still ongoing and that is parenting my kid. I knew parenting wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't know I would have a kid with a nervous system disability and how much harder that would be. Outside of that was teaching online during a 7 month lockdown.
2. I think the premise is fine. What's missing for me is dealing with the nuance. Don't overwork, but don't be lazy — that's easy to say, but the reality is complicated. How do you find the line? How do you know when you've gone too far? How do you avoid burnout? How do you know when your well-deserved break has turned into a problem? How do you really know what your potential is? How do you know what someone else's potential is? Maybe he's a good swimmer and maybe pushing him to be a better swimmer will ruin swimming for him. Whose decision is that? How do you know what the right things are? When is it time to heed someone's advice? When is it time to say thanks but no?
3. My favorite flavor of ice cream is often the one I haven't tried yet. I always like to check out different flavor combinations. Christina's in Inman Square is always a good place to expand your flavor palate. Here in Prague, I dig Amato.
4. Visiting isn't the same as living somewhere else. If you really want a challenge and a change of perspective, move to a country where you don't speak the language. Then dig into what daily life is like: setting up internet, electricity, phone, ordering food at the market, ordering food in a restaurant, grandmas yelling at you for some social faux-pas, getting repairs on your apartment...
Chris, these posts have been ice cream: good every time. (And worth keeping in the freezer for later.) The most recent hard thing: housesitting for weeks on the beautiful island of Vieques—stay with me—where I couldn't sleep at night because our neighborhood was a cacophony of barking dogs, barking frogs and crowing roosters through all the wee hours, night after night. But my bleary eyes were bathed by the sights of spectacular island beaches every day, so maybe it wasn't that hard.
You should, of course, visit every country in the world again—they miss you. I will happily be your valet if you only have a carry-on.
I think there's some subjectivity here that can be self-contradictory. For instance, if you went to pretty much any gym and asked people who work out regularly to optimize their fitness level if they were doing what made them happy while in the gym, they'd probably say yes. At the same time, they'd admit that getting more fit is a struggle, it can be painful... Yet they show up because of the goal in mind.
So they are happy, while at the same time bringing physical discomfort to themselves voluntarily.
Another example of this that stands out for me is if you play poker. Anyone who has ever played poker online against computer opponents will tell you its very frustrating and depressing, because all you have to do to get the computer opponents to fold is raise a huge amount. Where, in a game against real people, if you raise a huge amount, people will still challenge you and you'll often lose. In a game against real opponents, the randomness and unknown quantity of the game is actually satisfying. It feels natural. You inherently know you are beating the odds when things go your way...
So in this sense, it makes you happy to lose at times in a real game. You know when that happens, that you are facing a real challenge and there's the potential to overcome it.
So sometimes doing what makes you happy is equal to dealing with pain or failure. As human beings we seem to have an innate need for challenge in some form. This is one of the reasons why the children of rich parents often end up getting themselves into a lot of trouble as adults. They really don't face any inherent challenges. Their lives are all secure as long as they go along with what their parents want.
I think human beings crave insecurity to some degree. It makes us happy to try to overcome it.
Someone asked once, maybe W.C. Fields, "what would we do if we woke up one day, and had no problems?" - if you woke up and every little thing you needed or wanted was suddenly taken care of and provided for you? People would probably go insane. We need problems. They make us happy. Give us a purpose in life...even if that purpose is rather delusional...
After all, someday an asteroid may hit Earth and wipe out the entire human race, and then all our struggles and challenges and accomplishments will ultimately amount to nothing. But we still have to have something to do with our lives...
This came at a perfect time for me. It's a reminder that I need to be doing things that aren't always fun. The last thing I did that was really hard was this morning. Setting a timer for 30 minutes to write. Didn't have anything in mind so it was more of a brain dump, but even doing that was hard. The temptation was to give up early and go do something else that felt more fun like social media.
Picking a favorite flavor is tough but I'll go with a recent flavor I had and that's Haagen Daaz strawberry cheesecake. Too easy to eat a whole pint of that in one sitting.
What would your purpose to visit every country again? I think you should if you're been seriously thinking about it. Has it been done before?
I watched a min-series on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy recently. And the main character said this: As long as there is life, there is happiness (which is a quote from the book). Sure we can break happy down in an existential way, but sometimes when I don’t overthink it, I’m moved by the simplicity of Tolstoy’s words. I also genuinely believe some people are happy going to the gym, getting fit, struggling to pursue their passions, being involved in activism. If you aren’t happy doing it, I’d advocate for change, because there’s so much more before you.
Thanks for the post! love this theme and I've been thinking about this for a while since habits/rituals/routines are very interesting to me as a form of mental health stability. Personally, I have noticed it is such a balance of being with my "present self" in the moment while also thinking of my "future self" while also thinking of my "higher self." When it comes to exercise for instance (since I know this is a common place where emotions get the best of us), my present self might say I am too tired, but my future self knows I will be happy if I go for that walk or take that pilates class. My "higher self" knows I am living in alignment with my values of health. Psychology would say, take action in alignment with your values. But sometimes I can run into values conflict because health might also mean prioritizing rest. When I notice there are a lot of conflicts between the various pieces of myself, I realize my mind is then looking for one "right" answer. I don't think there can be one. We make choices and we get to learn from them and move on. For instance, if I listened to my present self that I need rest and later regretted the decision, I would want to remember that for my future self. I want to learn and discern for myself what choices feel "wise"-- knowing that might be different in different scenarios. I don't want to live by societies standards of what I "should" be doing. I want to lean on my inner compass.
I really love this post, as I think it gets to the heart of something very human. It’s the act of balance, and (thanks to you sharing your annual reviews and me seeing them years back) my mantra for this year is finding that balance. I know I can buckle down and work hard, have done that many times over my life and I have been able to make dreams come true that way. However… I am a person who cares about a lot of things. I can make things happen, but not all the way across the board of my own radar of things all at the same time. For years I’ve had a sort of mantra for daily life: I can do three things in a day. That might be native plant gardening, writing, and riding my horse. Or it might be a big home or farm project, writing, and client work. I know that doing more than three pushes the boundary of health and well-being for me. But across the days, the hard thing is finding the right balance so I feel like I’m moving forward with the things that matter most to me. Time with family, which includes my many animals and now two grandchildren. Activist things, land conservation, etc. I am working this year in figuring out some ways to keep the days manageable while also advancing my overall goals. It is hard! But worthwhile. RE: the ice cream - this weekend I met with two of my long-time writing women friends in our monthly Zoom-based writing weekend. We started it in 2020 when news of the pandemic put a stop to our twice a year week+ retreats together. One of us is 80 now and recently had a fall which is meaning for her several months of dental surgeries and some tenderness in the mouth as she goes through them. Her new goal is to try every one of the Haagen-Daz flavors. She enjoyed vanilla swiss almond as we met on Friday evening. :) What a way to find something good in a rough time. The balancing act includes shifting when needed, right? And finding what works no matter what life tosses our way. I have two favorite H-D flavors: coffee and rum raisin!
"What was the last really hard thing you did?" —> Navigating a divorce I didn't want, homelessness, and unemployment for 9 months simultaneously — and its still going on. The absolute hardest thing I've had to take on in my life — I get up every day and work to get on my feet, yet it feels as if I'm in an endless pool swimming laps from here to eternity—treading water with no horizon in sight.
I've framed it as being guided by what I love — if I love something enough, I'll likely go through many challenges for it, because my love outweighs my fear of discomfort. I could also frame it as the love of one thing outweighing the enjoyment of another.
And, on the flip side, I have compassion for subconscious secondary gains — for example, a young man smoking because he associates that with heart-to-heart talks, bonding time, and taking a deep breath. Maybe someone stays up super late because they feel so much pressure during the day when around other people.
We verbalize those gains so that we can find a way to build up other — more beneficial in the long run — behaviors that can fulfill a similar want.
As for ice cream flavors... I like plain sweet cream. But avocado with a small drizzle of honey or stevia or blended with ice can hit the spot. It sounds weird to Americans, but is quite common in east Asian cultures and full of heart-healthy fats!
Well my favorite Ice Cream flavor is Chocolate😊
This reminds me of some great lessons on happiness from Gretchen Rubin who says:
"To be happier, we have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. ... (this) accounts for a paradox I noticed within happiness: sometimes, happiness doesn’t make us feel happy."
https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/little-happier-happiness-doesnt-always-make-us-happy/
I spent 10 years trying to break into UX design before finally accepting a job offer last year. I was making good money doing graphic design in the marketing dept of a FAANG company, but wanted to do something that was more aligned with my interests. There were so many times during those 10 years that I thought about giving up, but something in me kept telling me to try again. This role isn't perfect, but it has definitely reignited my career and my sense of self, and I'm glad that I put in the work to get here. It's often said that the journey more rewarding than the goal, and while my journey was long and arduous, it taught me a few lessons that I'll keep forever.
I also had a dream of playing for the New York Knicks, but that one probably won't happen.
Hey Chris, this has been done (by you!) "Should I visit every country in the world again?" so it's a bit boring ;) and honestly sort of reflects your "old" mindset that says you need to do the MOST, BEST, HIGHEST VOLUME...it's very outcome, metric, achievement focused. I would love to see you do something that reflects the new version of you, something more creative and truly inspired that comes from deep in your soul and does not have a predictable metric (or Guiness record) attached to it. I would love to see something that makes you uncomfortable because there is no "achievement" associated to it and you might even feel nervous or think "that's boring, who will want to hear about that"...it's probably a good sign if you feel an inner sense of peace about what you do, but worry that it's too small, not exciting enough or doesn't require enough work :)