I think that most things in life are far less spectacular than we romanticize them up to be. This is not a pessimistic perspective, but rather one that normalizes reality, lowers the delta between expectations and the truth.
Myths around “growing up, graduating from college, getting a job, moving cities, etc.” are far less magical, and for more practical. Scary? Maybe, but I find the earth to be calming. I find time, stitched together by a sequence of blinks and breaths, to be the grand neutralizer. The ultimate peacekeeper and settler.
I think a lot about this…the transition years…the in-between phase between zero and something. Between nothing and everything. That is the gap I care about. That is where I am. I am nothing. I am zero.
Everyone sells recipes for how to reach escape velocity – to reach your goals. To lose weight. To get a job. To get into college. Everyone wants you to buy their books and cheat codes. Everyone is right. YET everyone is really wrong. s
I have always been critical, perhaps too critical, of most advice. I think most people fail to acknowledge luck. They fail to credit their good fortune and circumstance before shoving hindsight-bias filled advice down their listener’s throats. They make assumptions about their audiences. They do not know me.
I digress because this all relates to this idea of “the gap.” Gaps run the world. Poor and rich. Ugly and pretty. Etc.
Dichotomies are everywhere. And the more you think about them, the more you become aware of their effects.
Also published on Medium.