Things I Know

This is list of things I need to need to remember and am likely to forget.


  1. I am forgetful. Perhaps no more than normal, but I forget dates and facts and movie dialogue. I'll forget how I felt about something once, or what it was really like to be somewhere, or why something was successful. And I won't know I forgot it, I won't know I misremember it.

  2. There is no destiny, no fate, no guarantees.

  3. I need rest and time to be with my family.

  4. I need exercise daily. It builds strength and gives me energy and focus.

  5. I am the same. Every feeling, desire, thought or outlook I have is shared by more people than I can possibly know. I am not unusual or alone.

  6. I am different. The combination of my parts is, if not unique, at least rare, as is the sum of my experiences. Most people, at any given time, aren't thinking like I think, aren't feeling what I feel, aren't understanding what I understand. And vice-versa. Failure to recognize this leads to communication problems.

  7. Practice is learning. Practice is learning. Practice is learning. See #1.

  8. I am resilient. Fear injures me far more than failure.

  9. I need periods of quiet restful thought every day, a time to think.

  10. People who really understand me are rare. Care for those relationships and maintain them.

  11. I make mistakes and I am often blind to them.

  12. I am lucky. I am very very lucky.

Posted September 28, 2006 3:15 PM

Comments

Also, I believe that children are the future.

Jeff Atwood, September 29, 2006 1:38 AM

Eh.

Seems you just had a cold life-shower, huh? Congrats :)

CaffèNero, September 29, 2006 7:03 AM

"cold life-shower"?

No, just something I've been wanting to write down for a while. So I did.

Damien, September 29, 2006 8:16 AM

Re: "I am the same." + "I am different."

I agree that it's good to keep both of those in mind. The thing that really annoys me is when people claim that you can't understand their pain, but a lot of people have watched loved ones slowly and painfully fade away, had relatives, children, friends die young and violently, experienced all manner of permanent or transient medical ailments either personally or via loved one, or experienced loss and pain of all kinds. The fact is, maybe I don't quite know exactly how it feels to lose a spouse of 40 years, but honestly, I've got a decent guess.

I think I find the presumption that you've lived "the good life" annoying. You never know what someone may have experienced.

Especially, don't refuse to be comforted for that reason; as you say, you are not alone in your pain.

(And remembering that you are in fact still unique in other ways is an important counter to that point, if you take it too far.)

Nice post.

Jeremy Bowers, September 29, 2006 1:04 PM

Wow... I sat next to Alan Bell a week or so ago at Collab. university, he was fiddling with your CouchDb, and reminded myself to visit your blog again sometime. This is just a ball of amazing insights.

Adi, October 6, 2006 2:39 PM

I agree with #4. I recently devoted my life for 3 year to daily indoor/outdoor exercise. But a recent job change/transplant from Chicago to Santa Cruz has left me 6-months behind in exercising and I truely feel like a lump. well, ok, an in-shape lump ;) Seriously though, I never felt better after a minimum of 30 minutes daily activity... definitely can't forget that.

Thanks for the reminder.

David P Thomas, October 13, 2006 3:55 AM

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