12:39 PM: The effectiveness of external validation is as pragmatically sound as it is disheartening. The latter only because, at least part of me, thought I was above it.
One of my few justifications for engaging social media is the wealth of information I stumble upon. There may be some truth in this, but it is worth noting that six months ago I had marked this year the year of elimination. Then, I got it into my head, from reading a book, a book that I stumbled upon from a social media rabbit hole, that it is better to focus on the one thing that makes everything else easier or unnecessary. This is a great concept in and of itself, but I also adopted the notion that sometimes life gets messy in the process. A literal example was that you have to accept a cluttered desk if you ultimately want to be effective. So I ran with it. Let things get messy. Fuckin hated it.
Then, just recently, going down another social media rabbit hole, I read about the more that is inherent in less. And that part of getting more of less is to declutter your desk and then your home. Eliminate and simplify. I began this. Fuckin love it.
So, I am left to wonder, am I better off to avoid such reading for a time, and instead focus on learning to buy into what I already want to do? Nearly everything I read of value nowadays are concepts that I have already adopted, but perhaps not yet acted upon. Or, is the external validation a necessary part of the process for the time being? Having read about both decluttering, then cluttering, then decluttering, and implementing at each turn, I am now quite certain of what I prefer. If I read another book that recommends accepting a certain degree of clutter, I will be positive that such is not for me, even if there is a lot of value in the other concepts in the book.
3:47 AM: Today was a good day. I slept until noon, got six rounds of jiujitsu in, got two hours of drive time and four hours of easy work, got some home health notes done while there, had a nice drive along 800 to St. Clairsville, had Mexican and hung out with Josh and Jonathan, lifted with Josh after, and managed to cross everything off my list for the day. I don’t really wish I were dead anymore. Which is nice.
