#188 Predictable pathways

There is no such thing as “abstaining from voting” in life.

Whether I decide to write today or not, I’m living my life and voting for an identity.

Whether I decide to do yoga today or not, I’m living a life and voting for an identity.

Whether I eat healthily today or not, I’m living my life and voting for an identity.

Whether I spend time with my family or not, I’m living my life and voting for an identity.

Voting is compulsory. Voting is inevitable.

You might as well do it intentionally.

Does a day end, or does a new one start?

Does the end of a book chapter signal termination, or does it serve as a gateway to an unexplored continuation?

Maybe we don’t need to arbitrarily mark endings and beginnings in lives that consist of an uninterrupted flow.

Maybe we’re just a tiny plot in a story spanning billions of years.

Maybe we don’t grasp the bigger story anyway.

Maybe it’s all the same.

You feel bad because you don’t write.

And when you write, you feel bad because you’re scared of the inevitable day you stop writing.

That’s how you create a self-improvement prison.

And that prison has only one way out.

Intend to do what’s good for you.

Then realize that even if you don’t live up to that standard all the time, you’re still worthy of self-love and self-trust.

Focus on intention, not outcome.

Focus on cultivating elastic discipline rather than on becoming a habit hardliner.

Focus on the general direction of your life, not a day-by-day judgment of your every action.

Maintain a majority vote for who you want to be.

Realize you’re not going to be perfect today – and being perfect isn’t the goal anyway.