Happy Thanksgiving!
Just a quick note to thank you all for being here; no regular edition this week!
Hi All,
This is not a regular edition of Dozen Worthy Reads. I just wanted to wish you all a very happy thanksgiving!
As the year has wore on and seemingly it has been a hard year for so many of us. Dealing with a pandemic, loss of jobs or the fear of losing a job, loved ones suffering from COVID, or worrying about if they will get sick we approach the end of the year in flux.
For that that know me well, know that I am the kind of person that worries A LOT. If it’s raining, I wonder if there is going to be a flood. If it’s not I wonder if there is going to be a drought. Heh, yeah! The one thing that I have realized is that we can only truly control (and worry about) so many things in life. It’s important to identify what is in your control and not worry too much about the rest.
So as we come closer to our Thanksgiving feasts, take a moment to let your worries slip away, to stop for a moment and be thankful for everything that you have. Family, friends, a job, a significant other that cares for you, education, the ability to use your mental faculties and senses and experience life in all its messy glory.
Last but not least, I want to thank you all. Truly for being a part of my little corner on the internet. I am thankful to be able to write this newsletter and I am thankful for all of you reading this in addition to many other things in life.
I’ll leave you with a profound note from Ray Dalio who has so aptly stated in his book “Principles : Life and Work”:
“This evolutionary process of productive adaptation and ascent—the process of seeking, obtaining, and pursuing more and more ambitious goals—does not just pertain to how individuals and society move forward. It is equally relevant when dealing with setbacks, which are inevitable. At some point in your life you will crash in a big way. You might fail at your job or with your family, lose a loved one, suffer a serious accident or illness, or discover the life you imagined is out of reach forever. There are a whole host of ways that something will get you. At such times, you will be in pain and might think that you don’t have the strength to go on. You almost always do, however; your ultimate success will depend on you realizing that fact, even though it might not seem that way at the moment. This is why many people who have endured setbacks that seemed devastating at the time ended up as happy as (or even happier than) they originally were after they successfully adapted to them. The quality of your life will depend on the choices you make at those painful moments. The faster one appropriately adapts, the better.24 No matter what you want out of life, your ability to adapt and move quickly and efficiently through the process of personal evolution will determine your success and your happiness. If you do it well, you can change your psychological reaction to it so that what was painful can become something you crave. 1.8 Weigh second- and third-order consequences. By recognizing the higher-level consequences nature optimizes for, I’ve come to see that people who overweigh the first-order consequences of their decisions and ignore the effects of second- and subsequent-order consequences rarely reach their goals. This is because first-order consequences often have opposite desirabilities from second-order consequences, resulting in big mistakes in decision making. For example, the first-order consequences of exercise (pain and time spent) are commonly considered undesirable, while the second-order consequences (better health and more attractive appearance) are desirable. Similarly, food that tastes good is often bad for you and vice versa. Quite often the first-order consequences are”
Happy Thanksgiving! May your have a wonderful feast and spend memorable moments with loved ones during this break.