I’m going insane trying to read every book, watch every movie, write everything I’ve ever felt or wanted to say but didn’t, languages I want to learn, too much i want to do and so little time, and life’s responsibilities just keep piling up and agghhhh your page always makes me feel like I could do it but I don’t know, how do you do it?
It doesn’t sound like you are enjoying it when you do read, watch, listen, write. Because where is this pressure coming from? These are hobbies, rituals, ways to relax. They are not routines and you can’t check them off of lists. The things we love deserve more space in our lives than that. There has and always will be responsibility for everyone who does read a lot and study a lot and similarly for people who prioritize other interests. The internet speeds time up, disorients us. My blog is 10% of my life and interests. I may post about learning Portuguese once after an entire year of dedicating myself to it in silence. These things aren’t goals. Ive never thought to myself “i need to write more”. In fact I force myself to write less and meditate more so that when I do write it comes out perfectly formed from the deepest depths. I don’t understand when this started, this idea that your desires can be looked at with the same toxic productivity lens that you would see your job through. Its enough. You will read and write and learn when you stress less about how much you haven’t done. Pick up an audiobook on your way to work or school, start small. And breathe. These things aren’t going away.
Yes, sure, my trauma affected me.
Do you know what else affected me?
Dancing under the glow of LED strip lights with my best friend at 3am. The pair of shoes my godmother gave me with the cute little bows that I wear for good luck. My girlfriend laughing so hard at my joke she had tears on her face. The hours and hours I’ve spent scribbling in the margins of books. Buying the ugliest sweater at goodwill because it made all my friends grin. Listening to that song on repeat while I swayed through the halls at school, smiling in response to all the weird looks people sent me.
I’m never going to just be the bad parts. I refuse to be boiled down to just the bad parts. Every moment of my life has affected me in some way, more than even just the parts I remember, and there has been beauty contained within and surrounding all the grotesquities.
Colman Domingo in conversation with Jacob Elordi for Variety's Actors on Actors
チリンの鈴 - ringing bell (1978)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/07/magazine/kidnapping-long-island.html