Personal Excellence, Nurturing The Soul, and The New Normal

Existential Espresso Vol. 4

What I’ve been reading:

Rereading “Restoring Pride” by Richard Taylor.

I have read it couple of times already, and I go back to it often.

I don’t read it from cover to cover, but I go through some of my favorite parts that help me not to get complacent with how I live my life, and remind me that:

It is in my power to live an exceptional life.

It is in my power to reach excellence.

Neither of those two should be what society is telling me they are.

Neither of those two should be pursued for the sake of impressing others.

But if my ideas of exceptional life and personal excellence are true to who I am and what I value, just by pursuing my own kind of exceptional life, and my own personal excellence, I will have a reason to be proud of myself.

However, what I always find the most motivating in this book is the image of what I do not want to be:

Most people are, in the most ordinary sense, very limited. They pass their time, day after day, in idle, passive pursuits, just looking at things - at games, television, whatever. Or they fill the hours talking, mostly about nothing of significance - of comings and goings, of who is doing what, of the weather, of things forgotten almost as soon as they are mentioned. They have no aspirations for themselves beyond getting through another doing more or less what they did yesterday. They walk across the stage of life, leaving everything about as it was when they entered, achieving nothing, aspiring to nothing, having never a profound or even original thought... This is what is common, usual, typical, indeed normal. Relatively few rise above such a plodding existence.

Side note: I don’t read a book per week. I am still reading all the books I’ve shared in my previous 3 Existential Espressos. I always read multiple books at the same time. Some of them I read from cover to cover, with some I go straight to chapters that I’m most interested in, and some of them I pick up whenever I have the time and just read a couple of pages. I also read slowly.

What I’ve been listening to:

Amy Winehouse

I know, I know. You expected an educational podcast, an inspiring interview or an online philosophy lecture.

Well, this weekend I took my own advice from the “How to Live Each Day as a Separate Life” essay and took some time to listen to music, and do nothing else.

Not listen to music in the background while I’m doing some work on my laptop, or while doing some chores around the house.

Not listen to music in the background while working out.

But really listen and feel the music.

For the sake of music, and nothing else.

My choice was Amy Winehouse, in my opinion one of the best female vocalists of all time. For some reason I haven’t listened to her in a while, so I enjoyed it even more.

This is my challenge to you:

Take some time to nurture your soul, not just your mind.

Not everything that you listen to has to contain a piece of actionable advice for it to have value.

Not everything that you listen to needs to contribute to your self-development in a quantifiable way.

You don’t have to listen to Amy Winehouse.

Find something that speaks to your soul.

Then listen to it. Try to feel it.

What I’ve been thinking about:

“The New Normal”

I’m using the public transport quite often where I currently live.

And occasionally, there is an announcement broadcasted through the speakers at the train station:

“Please report if you notice any suspicious behavior.”

And the other day, I was worried I would get reported.

I’ve made a contract with myself not to use my phone while outside, unless absolutely necessary. I want to re-learn how to soak in the world around me.

So while I’m on the train, I like looking through the window, or maybe even looking at other people on the train (in a non-creepy and respectful way).

This time, I was doing the same. Besides me, the only couple of people who were not on their phones were the ones who were sleeping on the train.

Everyone else was staring at their screen.

Then I caught one man looking at me.

I don’t know if it was a look of confusion, or fear, or both of those combined, but if his face could speak, it would say:

“Look at this lunatic. Not holding his phone, looking through the window, even smiling. What a creep.”

I can’t blame him. Maybe I would think the same thing if I saw me.

One thing is for sure, my behavior was definitely not normal.

At least not according to the new normal.

Luckily I wasn’t reported for suspicious behavior.

I’ll take my chances and keep acting in this abnormal and suspicious way.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you found something interesting and valuable here.

Talk to you soon.

Until then, stay strong, love life, and never feel sorry for yourself.

P.S. One of my best friends while creating daily instagram content and multiple newsletter posts per week is coffee.

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