5 Micro Essays

3 Thoughts

I.

The fastest way to kill your progress is to start a new thing when you run into a problem you don't know how to solve in your current thing.

II.

The older I get the more I realize how rare it is to genuinely connect with someone. There’s situational chemistry, and seasonal relationships, and convenient friendships… but when you meet someone who you can vibe with in many different situations, don’t take them for granted.

III.

There’s nothing sadder than an intelligent person with a ton of potential who let their fear of the unknown prevent them from becoming everything they could’ve been.

2 Quotes

I.

Saw this on Instagram. Resonated a ton. Had to share it.

II.

Sam Altman on building wealth:

5 Micro Essays

No deep dive this week. But wrote a fresh batch of micro essays. Enjoy :)

1/

Life is messy. I'll send texts I'll later regret. Take the wrong job. Trust the wrong person. Change directions so many times I forget where I started. Feel lost while everyone else seems to know exactly where they're going. But that’s the whole point. I don't want to reach the end with a perfect, unlived life. I want to arrive absolutely exhausted from feeling everything. From trying and failing and trying again. From loving too hard and trusting too much and taking the leap even when my hands were shaking. At the end of the day, I'd rather have stories than regrets. I'd rather say "I can't believe I did that" than "I wish I'd tried." The mess isn't ruining your life. The mess is your life. And damn, at least you're living it.

2/

The worst regret isn't failing. It's knowing you never gave it a real shot. You played it safe. You hedged your bets. You protected yourself so well that you never actually lived. If you're going to love someone, love them with your whole entire being. Yes, you might get your heart broken. But the alternative is a series of lukewarm relationships where nobody ever really knew you. If you're going to start a business, burn the boats. Quit talking about it at parties and actually do it. Fail spectacularly if you have to. At least you'll know. If you're going to chase a dream, chase it like it's the last bus of the night. Not with a backup plan and an exit strategy and a safety net. Those are just sophisticated forms of not believing in yourself. Tiptoeing through life, giving 70% effort, keeping your guard up, playing it cool... that's not protecting yourself. That's robbing yourself of the experience of being fully alive. You want to know what you're capable of? Stop holding back. Pour your heart out. Risk looking foolish. Go all in. The only thing worse than losing is wondering if you could've won if you'd actually tried.

3/

The best quote I've heard all year: "Depression cannot hit a moving target."

If you feel down, move. Depression thrives on a still mind and inactive body. It needs you stuck in bed, scrolling, overthinking, marinating in your own thoughts. Get up. Clean your room. Go for a walk. Start a business. Run a marathon. Write a book. Make a friend. Call your mom. Learn something useless. Build something nobody asked for. The action doesn't need to be big. It just needs to exist. When you have a mission to work toward, you have less time to wonder "how do I feel today?" Depression wants you to wait until you feel better to start moving. That's the trap. Move first. Move badly. Move slowly. Just move. The feelings follow the action, not the other way around.

4/

Stop trying to fit in. Every time you sand down your weird edges, dim your enthusiasm, or swallow your actual opinion, you're making it harder for your people to find you. The ones who would love your specific brand of strange. Who want to hear your niche obsessions. Who speak your exact frequency of humor. They're out there looking for you right now, but you're wearing camouflage. Yes, being yourself will repel some people. Good. That's the point. The loneliest thing isn't being alone. It's being surrounded by people who only know the performance of you. The edited version. The one who laughs at jokes you don't find funny and stays quiet when you have things to say. Your weird is someone else's wonderful. Your too much is someone else's just right. But they'll never find you if you're hiding behind normal. Stop auditioning for friendships that require you to shrink. The people meant for you don't want the generic version. They want the one who gets way too excited about mundane things and has questionable taste in reality TV. Be yourself. Loudly. Your people are searching for you.

5/

Nobody tells you that becoming who you're meant to be feels like a betrayal at first. You're not just leaving behind bad habits and limiting beliefs, you're saying goodbye to the person who got you this far. The one who survived everything. The one your friends recognize. The one who feels safe because they're familiar. But the truth is, your new life will cost you your old one. The butterfly can't keep its caterpillar body. The seed disappears completely before the tree can grow. You can't hold onto who you were while becoming who you're meant to be.

Until next week,
Jay “Finish The Year Strong” Yang

Ps. Are you okay?

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