Welcome back to Nick Lets Rip. I don’t know that I have a target for my outpouring today, but my internet is being glitchy as hell, so I guess I can start there.
Before I start that little rant: I recently launched another Substack, the Simple Human Strategy. The idea is that at the end of every month I’m going to assess and breakdown what I’ve done, from a sport and project perspective. I cover what worked, and what I’m letting go of. There is no planning or projecting there, it’s all about a retrospective This Is What Worked, This Is What Didn’t. Check it out if you want.
Back to the regular program!
For those unaware, the Internet is a tool that we are all constantly using in the 21st century. Some of us think it’s great, some of us think it’s shit. The German federal government is clearly ambivalent towards it, because their internet infrastructure ensures anything but the standards of internet that people from Australia and the US are used to.
Oh, to be born amongst the privileged.
Maybe Mercury is in retrograde, what do I know? Whatever, the point is, all my efforts at procrastinating this publication for another couple hours were thwarted when the internet said no. I can’t even find the link for the meme I’d like to insert with this line immediately – welcome to hell, 21st century style. (Edit: it’s OK, the internet is working with me now that I did What I Had To Do)
Instead, I am forced to execute my intentions, free from distraction. Who would’ve thought such a thing necessary and possible?
And just like that, I’ve found my red line. Intentions and execution. I am a scatterbrain with a lot of things, and my intention/execution is probably the greatest area where this is represented.
It has to do with the long-term visions and goals that everybody swears by. I don’t know if there is something wrong with me, but I think building a long-term vision or goal to be the foundation of your life feels wrong.
The cost of feeling like this is that every couple of months I question everything I’m doing and wonder where its taking me.
But that’s the nature of the flow I live in. Somehow, for some reason or another, things always turn out OK, and the wheels keep on spinning. But when those periods of ‘what the fuck am I doing’ hit me, they suck.
I like to get things started and put everything into them, then just let them take their course. Maybe this is not the correct approach if I want to achieve a very specific, clear goal but that’s rarely the case.
Every internet guru and self-help expert swears to improve 1% daily or weekly, and that with COMPOUNDING INTEREST (that beautiful beast) you’ll be infinitely better in no time. But again, this is coming from the position that something is wrong. I try to take a different approach.
I try to lean into these feelings as and when they come because I’m not smarter than my body. When I am burning with passion for something, I give it everything. When that fire has died, I calm down.
At the moment – in the absolute heart and stillness of winter – the fire is entirely mental, and the action phases are almost entirely absent. My ego is raging against this state, screaming constantly ‘You have to do more, you aren’t doing enough’ but the reality is that everything is frozen both inside and out. It isn’t the time for starting new things, it’s the time for regenerating and keeping the energy inside.
This is not to say that I’m not doing things, or that I’m being lazy, but the things I’m doing aren’t about new beginnings, they’re about consolidation and reinvestment. Which is perhaps why I have this ‘what the fuck am I doing’ feeling because it’s the beginning of things that I have the most excitement and passion for.
I like to give things a great big push with all my energy, and then kick back and watch as the momentum of that effort carries it through the universe. In winter, I am kicking back and watching as all the momentum of my last 9 months carries me through the winter.
I have a million ideas of what I’d like to do in the future, and I keep thinking that it’s the time to start, then feeling guilty for not starting. But everything I start now lasts approximately two days before I’m over it. Slowly but surely, I’m learning to embrace the yin. Relax. Surrender. Let go.
And it’s a mental time at the moment. We’re supposed to be using the mind’s eye to see things into the future, because there’s not much to see with the eyes of the body. Dead trees, mist covering the land, grey skies. The only reprieve is fire, reminding me that change is still ticking away somewhere, but it’s unable to express itself fully right now.
So, I’m doing my best to get clear on these visions, these ‘North Star goals’ as they’re often called. I have a few things set and clear, and they’re acting as the fuel for the fire to keep the winter a relatively depression-free experience. (To that end, it’s working very well)
But these visions all involve community and building networks with people. Connecting people. Joining forces with other people who want to make a positive change. Not in the flower-power, dance in a circle sense (do you, though, no judgment) but in the sense that other people have ideas that they don’t have the fire (or self-confidence, or trust) to get moving.
This is the thing I bring to the table. I love helping people get shit started because once the ball is rolling, the momentum will carry it. And the merits of the idea can only be tested by time. If the idea remains in your mind, it is definitely not going to bring anything.
This is my call to you all. Let’s connect. Let’s join forces. You have ideas that you need to bounce around, and there’s probably a couple of good ones in there. Hit me, let’s get em bouncing. We will find the good ones only when we give them a bit of airtime.
From there, the momentum of discussion and excitement will breathe real life into the ideas, and time will carry them into the future. But for most people, these things are that much easier when done together.
So, let’s do it together. Let’s become the agents of change we want and need for the future, because the government isn’t going to do shit, and big business isn’t going to do the things we want or need them to do, and the organised religions of the world aren’t going to do it either.
That leaves us. You and me, and all the other people who see that it is our responsibility to build the world we want to live in. That it isn’t about having a vision for the future, but about living the future we desire now, today, and making the future mould itself around that way of life.
That gives me excitement, year-round. I can rest in the winter, consolidating and reinvesting into this idea, happy in the knowledge that the world is preparing this energy for its next revolution.
So, get in touch. Let’s make it happen together. Happy New Moon and Lunar New Year and see you all soon.
Much love.
Nick