Note: I have recently merged my own blog with The Good Men Project….exciting! Full-disclosure statement here: I am going to be profit-sharing for my posts. More views means more ad revenue means more money for me! Further non-disclosure: it is not very much money. Further further non-disclosure: if I can get sponsors for my page, I also will get money. All that being said, I am still going to write what I want to write, in the style I have become accustomed to. I don’t review products, so it is highly unlikely you will see a product review on this site. I would be horrible at it. If I ever pimp anything out, I will explain any conflicts of interest. So…I will do the thing where I will write away without becoming a corporate shill…yeah. You are definitely going to see my ass dancing in a Gap commercial.
1. Life is change and entropy. You never step into the same river twice. It is exciting and terrifying. We are always growing, aging, and changing. This creates opportunities, but it also leaves me with a constant feeling of terror and anxiety. Like a young Kierkegaard.
2. I take on new projects regularly, but it is a challenge for me to keep doing the same thing for years. I tend to love something for a while, then try something new. Then pick up that first thing again later and love it again. Good for some things (hobbies), bad for others (relationships, jobs).
3. Be the change you want to see…that is a thing people say. I would say, do that…or make other people do it, and then you don’t feel so bad about how much toilet paper you waste.
4. I have lived in a lot of places. It means I don’t keep a ton of stuff. When you move a lot you learn to only keep what you need.
5. There is a book called The First 90 Days
6. Moving around a lot or travelling a lot gives you the feeling of being in a dream. You touch down somewhere new and you fuzzily figure out where you are, and how things work. Just as you feel like you have got it figured out, you move again…
7. If you are leaving a job, try your best to make a helpful transition report for the new hire.
8. I wish life transitions were as easy as they seem to be on television. Some clean edits, nice edit music between scenes. Grief would only last 30 minutes, and all your friends/family/co-workers would go to comical lengths to cheer you up.
9. I sometimes think my desire to move to new things all the time comes from my own self-doubt. The fear that over time, the sheen will come off and people will see me for the fraud I really am. Or maybe I am just ADHD.
10. Even though we are always changing, the essence of who we are remains the same. That is important. Nobody is a lost cause. You have crappy parts of who you are, and really great parts of who you are. Even if you hit rock bottom, you can change. In fact, you must change, as all of us do.
Read more of Josh Bowman’s column Ten Things I’ve Learned here.
Photo of man leaping courtesy of Shutterstock
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