What I’ve been reading:
"The Mammoth Book of Endurance and Adventure" edited by Jon E. Lewis
This is a collection of over 30 accounts of real-life adventures taken from the memoirs, letters, and journals of the people who went through those adventures.
It is divided into sections that include adventures from The Poles, Mountains, Oceans and Rivers, Under Ground, Deserts, Jungles, and The Air.
Most of the accounts in this book were collected from the survivors of those expeditions. Some of the accounts, however, outlasted their authors, such as the diary found beside the corpse of R.F. Scott in Antarctica.
Adventure is something essential to being human. And sometimes, there are humans who feel the call of adventure so strongly that they are willing to put their lives on the line and face the vicious and merciless side of Mother Nature.
But why? What is it about those people that makes the desire for adventure stronger than the instinct for self-preservation? Maybe I will have a better idea of it once I read all of these stories.
"…in memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, grovelled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in his splendours, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man." -Sir Ernest Shackleton
What I’ve watched:
Re-watched Dave Chappelle stand-up comedy special "The Closer"
I need you to believe that I am having a human experience.
Something not a lot of people know about me, but is a big part of who I am:
Around 12 years ago, I was at home and I wanted to watch something funny. I couldn’t find a comedy movie that seemed interesting to me, so I somehow decided to watch Eddie Murphy’s legendary stand-up comedy special "Raw." It was one of the most transformative experiences in my life now that I look back on it. That was the day I was introduced to stand-up comedy. After that day, I only watched a handful of comedy movies, and most of them were at the cinema with friends. Stand-up comedy is what I go to for laughter, and even joy.
But sometimes, stand-up comedy gives you much more than laughter.
I’ve said it a couple of times on my instagram story rants that you will hear more wisdom and life truths from certain stand-up comedians than you will from most philosophers and intellectuals today.
Dave Chappelle is not one of my favorite comedians. I know it’s blasphemy to say that about someone who is considered the GOAT, but I simply prefer a different style of comedy.
However, his stand-up special "The Closer" shows the insanity of the world that we are living in.
Chappelle's been "cancelled" for "being transphobic."
However, in "The Closer"," Chappelle delivers one of the most beautiful, most tolerant and uniting messages that can be put into words.
Chappelle talks about having a conversation with his transgender friend who was in the audience at one of his shows. They were having a friendly back and forth and everyone loved it. At one point, she looks at him like she is talking to the whole world and says:
"I don’t need you to understand me. I just need you to believe that I’m having a human experience. Just believe that I’m a person and I’m going through it. "
Chappelle replied, "I believe you, because it takes one to know one."
Isn’t this a message that we can all understand and relate to? Aren’t we all just trying to navigate through this strange thing called human experience?
However, in this insane and divided world, a person sharing this message is cancelled for supposedly hating people who are different than him.
What I’ve been thinking about:
A challenge I gave to myself, and you best believe I am giving the same challenge to you.
Next time you see something beautiful, interesting, or unusual, and your first instinct is to take out your phone and take a photo or a video, don’t do it.
Instead, experience it in its entirety, without anything standing in the way between you and that thing.
Then, instead of keeping it alive by sharing a photo or a video of it, share it by writing about it or talking about it. Even if it’s only to yourself, try to express in words what you saw and experienced. But I am sure that there is at least one person out there who would love it if you sent them a message or called them to describe what you saw, or, even better, told them in person.
Thank you for reading.
Stay strong, love life, and never feel sorry for yourself.
If you like my work and get some value from it, there are two types of support you can give:
Zero-cost support in the form of you liking this post, commenting if you have any thoughts on it, and of course sharing this with anyone who would find it interesting.
Or you can consider becoming a paid supporter of Existential Espresso for 5$ per month. By doing this you would be helping me to keep investing so much time into researching and writing all the content on the daily basis.
What you get by becoming a paid supporter is access to the locked essays (such as “Why Having a Price on My Head Didn’t Upset Me” or “Why Living With a Bulletproof Vest is The Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me”), as well as an opportunity to recommend topics for future essays.
However, even taking the time out of your day to read what I have to share with you means more to me than you can imagine. Thank you.