Splash No. 219 - Perspective
Perspective
There’s a long history of dudes getting tired of their current situation and going off somewhere else to shift their thinking. In the 19th century, we saw Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond face great discoveries as he attempted to live more deliberately. In the 20th, droves of American writers fled to France and Spain and created massive amounts of work. Artist Donald Judd was so inspired by his visits to the desert, that he ended up purchasing land in Marfa, Texas, slowly building installments throughout the area until the town itself was transformed into a destination for art. Continuing this line of escapism big and small, there’s me.
Over the last few months, I went from starting a new job to getting into a really consistent groove in how I was living my life — mostly consisting of going to work, running in the park, and eating too much Mediterranean food from the place with the good labneh. And as time went on, each of those aspects seemed to grow in importance, as they filled most of my time and mental space. I slowly got used to only thinking about these things and other aspects of my life seemed to ebb in response. My world felt like it was shrinking, as it rarely expanded beyond the two ends of my commute. It was tiring feeling like work was the biggest thing in the world, even if I did love what I was doing. An overwhelming sense of constant immediacy started to overcome me.
Thankfully, flying back to Georgia to see my family and work from home for a while has quite literally given me a new perspective. With a timezone difference and without the hustle and bustle of the office, I feel like I’ve rediscovered more space in my mind beyond the loops that I’ve been stuck in. Life in Georgia is different, with endless sunshine and such intense unwalkability that the whole place feels like an isolated island. In this different state, my distance feels like it grants me perspective about the feeling of immediacy I was feeling before, and I find it easier to get back into the things that I enjoy, like reading and writing.
I sit here wondering if there’s some sort of inherent human need for a change of scenery — whether the hunter-gatherers would tire of hunting and gathering in a single area and needed to find somewhere else to not only get more food but to feel content in their day-to-day. Do we need novelty in our surroundings to sustain ourselves and remember who we are? Maybe, but either way, I’m glad I’ve found it.
Drops of the Week
PLAYLIST - Nu-Funk - Spotify made a playlist of "nu-funk" which can only be described as groovy
ARTICLE - "Work From Office" by Scott Galloway - great deep dive into the WFH vs offices
POEM - "At the End of My Marriage, I Think of Something My Daughter Said about Trees" by Maggie Smith - When a tree is cut down, the sky's like finally, and rushes in.
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With new eyes,
Nikhil