- aworkinprogress🚶🏻
- Posts
- 037 | 🪢 Life is like a ball of strings
037 | 🪢 Life is like a ball of strings
Hello,
Super short one today!
There's this concept that I've been thinking a lot about recently.
It's been quite helpful during those times when I've looked back at past events or decisions with regrets.
It's also a great thing to bear in mind whenever I've found myself comparing my life to that of others (or at least what I think their lives are like).
I am pretty sure I read it in Happy by Derren Brown, but I can't find the quote.
Life is like a [ball of strings]
It basically goes like this:
Every event and decision in life is like a different piece of string.
Life itself is the ball that's made up of the hundreds of thousands of strings that have built up over the course of a lifetime.
1 piece of string might be the decision I made to not revise for my biology A level exam. Ultimately, this led to me getting a C (a B was 1 mark off) and missing out on a place at Leeds.
But if I could change this, by pulling out the string, it's likely I would pull out several with it.
For example, I'd pull out the string that links to me going to Nottingham instead, leading to the amazing life I have now.
So here's the TL;DR.
All of our decisions and life events are tangled together. If you change one, you change them all.
And people are no different
I think this is a sort of similar concept:
If I aired a highlight reel of your most selfish life moments and most shameful thoughts, you'd seem like an awful person. If I aired a reel of your best, kindest moments, you'd seem like a saint. But people aren't highlight reels, and the unedited cut is always a messy mix!
— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy)
9:03 PM • Dec 16, 2021
People are who they are because of the good and the bad.
There's no rainbow without clouds.
Merry Christmas! See you next week.
Thanks! 😎
If you found this interesting and useful, feel free to subscribe. I send emails like this every Tuesday - see you next week 👍🏼
This Week’s Recommendation 🔝
Board game ♟ - Catan
I used to think that playing Monopoly meant that I was a fan of board games - but Catan is on another level - it’s amazing. I’ve never played it with someone for the first time that didn’t love it straight away. And what better time to play it that Christmas?
This Week I’m: ⬇️
Reading 📚 - The School of Life: An Emotional Education - Alain de Botton. This has become really hard to read, I've never seen half the words before!
Listening to 🎧 - Purple Disco Machine is one of my favourite DJ producers - I was meant to see him last weekend but sadly he had to cancel due to COVID. But, on the flip side, he's just released the Club Mix version ('Club Exotica') of his new album - guaranteed to be brilliant
Visiting 🇵🇱 - Zakopane, Poland for the next 3 weeks
Thinking about 🔑 - I was recently talking with 2 mates in a pub about values, and what our top 3 values would be if we had to decide. I can't honestly say I had 3 ready to go, and neither did my 2 mates, but after some thought, my friend said he values 'Strong values, weakly held'. I think it's a really cool idea and something everyone would benefit from. Believe what you believe and be proud of it - but if you learn that this strong opinion you hold isn't right, let go of it. Strong opinions, weakly held.
Looking forward to 🎅🏼 - A week off work next week
This Week’s Quote 💬
The emotionally intelligent person knows that they will only ever be mentally healthy in a few areas and at certain moments, but is committed to fathoming their inadequacies and warning others of them in good time, with apology and charm. — Alain de Botton
There we have it!
Looking forward to catching up next week.