48 | 🤔 How to Quit, How to Change Your Mind

March 08, 2022

Hello,

Happy Tuesday - here’s what I’m still calling 2-2-Tuesday which I think is bloody brilliant. Thanks for reading and of course subscribe if you’re new!

💭 Two things you need to know:

🎒 One Bag Travel

This might not be for everyone but I’ve become pretty obsessed recently.

One Bag travel is exactly that - travelling with one bag. Meaning, everything you travel with can fit into one (roughly 40L) backpack that’s small enough to count as carry on for planes.

There’s loads of reasons I like One Bag travel:

  • Naturally a backpack is much easier to lug around on transport than a suitcase

  • It encourages me to be more thoughtful about the things I take when go on holiday, travel, go backpacking (pending) - less is usually always more

  • No more checking luggage: cheaper, less waiting, and no risk of the airport losing your things - leaving you to focus on enjoying the experience rather than worrying about logistics

  • Less things means less time packing. And who doesn’t hate packing?

  • And there’s no need to lug a heavy suitcase across a cobbled street somewhere in Europe that screams TOURIST!!!

I’ve gone with the Osprey Farpoint 40L for my first foray into the minimalist One Bag lifestyle dream.

Just think of the practicality

💰 How to Think About Money

I’m reading an amazing personal finance / money self-help book called You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich (Emilie Bellet). It’s a straight talking, all encompassing look at finance and life planning.

I’m 5 chapters in and have been recommending it to everyone already.

Early on, the book sets out how to think about money in a healthier way. Money is a massive taboo and this only serves to make the conversation and topic difficult to talk about. This then creates worry and issues further down the line.

I’m no expert on money, so here’s some of the best ways to create a positive relationship with money in the book that I’ve benefitted from:

  1. Identify negative thoughts - Is this bill another example of failure or an example of how life is unfair? Or is it a chance to take stock, work out a plan to move forward and be more prepared for net time?

  2. Get educated - Via books, blogs, friends, TED talks, seminars - understanding money creates empowerment to figure out new ways to save and make money.

  3. Change your money language - We never have ‘enough’. But money is abundant - thinking this way encourages thinking of how to get enough, rather than accepting it’ll never happen

  4. Be kind to yourself - Everyone makes mistakes. Get over them and move on.

  5. Stop the comparison trap - There’s always someone that will have more money than you - so when the mind starts to wander into comparison land, remember all the things that we have to be grateful for.

  6. Make a plan - Deciding what you want and how you’ll get there gives you direction in life. Small, easy steps that create big results over time.

✅ Two Recommendations:

Book - How to Change Your Mind (Michael Pollen)

How to Change Your Mind gives a fascinating insight into the world of psychedelics, from their effects and benefits, discovery and current research.

Michael Pollan is a 67 year old ‘psychonaut’ in the book - he details his experiences vividly alongside a comprehensive recount of the origins and evolution of psychedelics in the west.

In short, it’s an incredibly detailed and beautifully written book, with astounding descriptions of his experiences on various psychedelics. It’s the sort of book that expands your vocabulary on every page.

Here’s a recount from the book - Michael is walking through his garden while high on Psilocybin, enraptured by his newfound connection to the nature around him:

The dragonflies, big as birds, were now out in force, touching down just long enough to kiss the phlox blossoms and then lift off, before madly crisscrossing the garden path. These were more dragonflies than I had ever seen in one place, so many in fact that I wasn’t completely sure if they were real. (Judith later confirmed the sighting when I got her to come outside.) And as they executed their flight patterns, they left behind them contrails that persisted in the air, or so at least it appeared. Dusk now approaching, the air traffic in the garden had built to a riotous crescendo: the pollinators making their last rounds of the day, the plants still signifying to them with their flowers: me, me, me! In one way I knew this scene well—the garden coming briefly back to life after the heat of a summer day has relented—but never had I felt so integral to it.

Tweet Thread - When to Quit (Wait But Why)

As good as ever from Tim Urban.

💬 And finally, two quotes

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.

— Seneca

And a great reminder that everyone is faking it and doing their best as they go along:

Despite the upbeat tone of society in general, there is solace in the discovery that everyone else is, in private, of course as bewildered and regretful as we are. This is not Schadenfreude, simply profound relief that we are not the only ones.

And as always, feel free to reply to this email if you found this useful!

Thanks!

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And as always, feel free to reply to these email if you found this useful!

In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads.

📸 BONUS: Photo of the Week