And so, the beginning of another week. Emma and I ran 10km yesterday which is a first for me, the hardest part wasn’t the physicality of the thing but the mental effort required to simply keep going. I suppose that’s one of the greatest lessons in life, is having the mental fortitude to just...keep running. Being the man I am, this has caused me to reflect on my own life and how I spend my time. There are so many things that I’d like to do but don’t because of the extra mental effort it would require. Take for example the following: - A video essay on the history of mech from Gundam to TTGL - A book of poetry based on Slay the Spire - A concept EP based on the Kid Villain persona using samples from the movie “falling down” to build the narrative of embracing “villainy” as a way of life Hopefully, life is long and I can get round to these things. I am just so tired most of the time. My sleeping is constantly interrupted by being itchy and waking up because of it. It’s hard to separate myself from the will power it takes to not scratch an itch. - Concept EP based on Kid Villain battling a disease that forces him to rip his skin off (maybe this would work better as a song) Again, it seems like being creative is more about getting shit done rather than spending a huge amount of time on ensuring that it’s “good”. Then again, so is a lot of life. Learning to appreciate everything that happens, amor fati and all that. I’ve been reading “On the Nature of the Universe” by Lucretius and it is...interesting. A lot more physics driven than I expected. I thought there would be more stuff about life(and there is) but it’s interspersed with “science” from over 2,000 years ago. It is fascinating to read about atoms before they were proven and given the length of time between us knowing about atoms vs theorising about them, I bet Epicurus was like “I FUCKING KNEW IT” in the after-life (although he didn’t believe in such a thing). One of the best takeaways from the book so far has been about how you need to enjoy life in the present and not wait around. Death comes to us all and it is about our perspective on the events in our lives that make or break us. This is a sentiment that I firmly believe in. It’s nice to take a break from Stoicism and learn about another philosophy, I’m enamoured with the idea of “New Bushido” from The Hyperion books. - Write a personal development book about Stoicism vs Epicureanism Miyato Musashi’s The book of five rings is also a stand out text that teaches some incredible life lessons from Japan’s greatest swordsman. In a way, I’m building a library on some core texts that, hopefully, will provide some answers for my own children when they have questions about life, the universe, and everything. #creativity #ideas #writing