Today, I just can’t resist sharing some cool stuff I’ve come across lately in the vast universe of the interwebs — one that I found myself, and two that were shared with me by good friends. These articles are kind of just tangentially nerdy, but they’re all very much worth passing on, and I hope you find them as valuable and thought-provoking as I did!
The Battery Life of an Introvert
Yes, this whole introvert/extrovert, it’s-okay-to-be-introverted, stickin’ it to our extroverted culture thing is starting to get a little beaten into the ground, and extroverts are probably like, “UGH we freaking get it already, you guys.” BUT this article looks at the “recharging” idea in a very literal and unique way, and I really love this explanation of what being an introvert is like. Never has being compared to a smartphone been so illuminating!
Why Is Everyone Succeeding Except Me?
I found this advice-column-style article by way of a link on the Captain Awkward blog (also an advice blog, and another wonderful corner of the internet), and it really stuck with me. I’ll admit that it contains a fair amount of millennial angst, but it’s the same sort of angst that I’ve dealt with periodically both as a Creator of Stuff and as a person, and the message that the author ultimately leaves us with is one that I need to be reminded of frequently because I’m constantly forgetting it — namely, the fact that there are other options in life besides “not amounting to anything” and “being the ABSOLUTE VERY BESTEST EVER.” Far from celebrating mediocrity, this article encourages the reader to rejoice in what they have accomplished thus far, realize that there’s still a lot of time to accomplish even more and better things (and that it’s okay if it takes a while to do so), and that even if we’re not the greatest, our contributions to the lives of our fellow humans are still valuable, even though making those contributions and having those successes sometimes takes what feels like forever. Seriously, guys — I think I need to reread this article every couple of months or so; it’s that good.
I know, I KNOW, this ship sailed at least five years ago. As well it should have. Why on earth am I still thinking about Twilight?? Because up til now, I haven’t been able to understand how I can get so sucked in to something that’s so poorly written and so very problematic, and I’ve been questioning my sanity in relation to this ever since I read the things. This article helped me understand the answer to this more clearly than I ever have before, and it was like the last piece of a puzzle finally clicking into place. I’m not crazy (or at least not for that reason…); it’s the way the books are written and the unspoken (and sometimes unrealized) things they appeal to in me that keep me coming back to this story to stare at it some more like a moth that knows it shouldn’t fly into that lamp but REALLY, REALLY WANTS TO. I had a couple of really great conversations about this piece with the friend who sent it to me, and it was so validating to find out that other people feel the same way about this stuff as I do. This article was, in a word, liberating. Just read it, you guys.
A Tallish Hobbit 