To Stay or To Go?

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

I recently finished Sebastian Junger’s new book, "In My Time of Dying," and reflected a lot as I traveled through many airports over the past week (7 in total).

I kept returning to one particular idea—on what advice his 70-year-old self would give his current self.

He said, “I think I would say to myself that the world is this continually unfolding set of possibilities and opportunities. And the tricky thing about life is, on the one hand, having the courage to enter into things that are unfamiliar.

But to also have the wisdom to stop exploring when you find something that’s worth sticking around for. And that’s true of a place, of a person, of a vocation.

In balancing those two things, the courage of exploring and the commitment to staying, it’s very, very hard to get the ratio, the balance of those two things right.”

When I look back on my life, it feels like this idea describes my own inner struggle completely. For instance, I can still remember when I received Mark’s email in 2014, inquiring whether I would ever want to come teach at Mark Fisher Fitness.

That was a moment where I felt an undeniable need to stay, standing in contrast to the courage I felt to explore and start an NGO in the Dadaab Refugee Camp back in 2009.

Both decisions that were life changing for me.

As time goes by, I hope that I don’t err on one side or the other, continually wondering—did I have the courage to go? Or the courage to stay?

Where do you feel the call to explore in your life? Where do you feel the call to stay?

A CREATIVE TOOL

I recently stumbled on this video of Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, speaking about the future of algorithms. Essentially, some social platforms are considering allowing users build their own.

This would allow users to edit and create their own custom feeds, based on what they want the algorithm to show them.

In the future, would you create your own algorithm? If so, what would it do for you?

A PIECE OF ART

“If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Grateful,

Michael