Comic Strips

Sorry to take so long to reply! I hope you see this.

The metaphor I came up with a couple years back when I was still in therapy was that we all have unique individualized instruction manuals for our brains and bodies, but for some cruel reason we do not get a copy.

Naturally, our two instruction manuals will be very similar in most areas. Needs for nutrition, water, and sleep probably overlap a lot. But maybe lactose will ruin my day and gluten will ruin yours.

Getting into the realm of mental health, medications, neurodiversity, physical health, personality disorders, and our closest relationships, all of those things interact constantly the complexity just explodes. It is unavoidable that any given person will have to to do some trial and error to craft a lifestyle where they can thrive.

Unfortunately I think tons of miserable people passively fall into the routine laid before them and don't even think about what options might be out there. And double unfortunately, society only seems to be more designed to push people in this direction because it's good for business. Work hard to keep yourself alive, consume to feel something, repeat.

An important subtext underlying all of this is how our biology is so reactive and adaptive to our environment. Do you want to be better at lifting heavy things? Lift heavy things more often. Do you want to be better at playing the guitar? Play the guitar more often. Do you want to be better at being mindful of what's actually important to you? Be better about being in a meditative mental state and in control of your mind? All need their respective workouts.

And it's never just one silver bullet. That last paragraph sounds pretty chill and zen, and that's how I am most of the time. I'm not in therapy any longer and I'm good at introspection, but I am still on my medications that keep chemical stuff in balance.

Some philosophies that really stuck with me:

Buddhism: meditation and the focus on being able to step back and be an observer of your emotions and sensory inputs and whatnot. It's a nice framework for exercising whatever you want to call the muscle that lets you be in control of your own mind and understand your reactions better.

Stoics: the notion that in many cases, things can only hurt us if we let them. We can recognize a problem and solve it, but whether that causes anxiety or dread or excitement in our minds is something we can control.

And above all: continuous improvement. You aren't going to read something and fix all your problems. But if you find a tidbit that resonates with you and you do something that makes life 1% better permanently? Huge victory, and a great use of your day!