#43 - Living a Better Story
Alternative medicine, stuck with yourself, and blocking out the noise
“Two twenty-something white males start startup”.
That’s my current chapter. Not very exciting. It lumps us in with 90% of the other startups in London.
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Alternative Medicine
There’s a wonderful story about treating depression in the developing world. It’s from Johann Hari’s Lost Connections and I’m paraphrasing. Forgive me:
A farmer in Cambodia was working in the rice fields when one day he stepped on a land mine and lost his leg.
He got an artificial limb and went back to work. But the new leg didn’t fair well being in water all day, and the work became painful. Soon he developed, what in the Western world we call, depression and couldn’t get out of the bed in the morning. His fellow villages sat round and listened to him to find out the issue.
Understanding the problem, they soon came up with the perfect anti-depressant: a cow.
He could be a dairy farmer and once again find meaning. They gave him the cow and in a couple of months his depression disappeared.
Wonderful.
Hari has written and spoken extensively on the topic of depression. See his Ted Talk here. The key insight is that we need meaning. We need a good story.
Whether we like it or not, we’re each living a story. Our happiness or unhappiness hinges on how we feel about that narrative.
Stuck With Yourself
There’s nothing in particular I want to achieve in this life. I have no specific goal or outcomes. What I am interested in is living a better story. That’s not to say I don’t like my current story, I do. But I also love the feeling it’s improving.
Every decision we take is a vote towards a better or worse story. From how we spend our evenings to the people we spend our time with. What people miss, in my opinion, is that doing nothing is voting too.
We seeing doing nothing as the “safe” option. Yet it’s the riskiest of the lot. Quitting your job is the obvious example. How many people are yearning for a change but afraid to make the step? Millions.
Changing is not the risky option. Once you’re in motion you’ll figure it out. The risky option is that you never make the step and your story stagnates. When all is done, it’s the story the remains.
You might be thinking it’s vain- talking about one’s “story”. I’m not talking about grandiose visions of “greatness”. I’m talking about what you think of yourself. That’s why it’s important. Like it or not you’re stuck with yourself. It’s worth working out how to get along.
Blocking Out the Noise
We’re not going to cure world hunger with our cabins. We’re unlikely to be the key piece in solving climate change. And I certainly don’t expect us to be responsible for making humans multi-planetary. But we might get people to start living a better story, and that’s a wonderful thought.
It’s difficult to live a better story when we’re constantly plugged in. I know because I couldn’t do it. For a decade I drowned in the noise of the 21st century. I lived in a constant state of overstimulation and achieved little. I wasn’t happy with my story.
It took 10 days offline in the Himalayas for me to see how to change the story. It’s obvious when you see it. Childishly so. Anything is possible and you can start today. It all starts with blocking out the noise.
I don’t know what’s next in my story. Hopefully we can diverge from the “Two twenty-something white male..” narrative. I have complete faith it will be interesting, to me at least.
I’ve got a good few decades to come with myself (all being well). Now’s the time to learn how to keep amused. I’m learning. Also meeting some wonderful characters along the way. It should be fun. I hope yours will be too.
Credit to A Million Miles in a Thousand Years for the idea.
My Week in Books📚
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
What a book. Wonderful characters, beautiful written, and utterly gripping. I could barely put it down. I don’t read much fiction but get so much joy when I do. Truly a modern classic.
I’ll be updating the books I’ve read this year here. Any recommendations? Let me know!
A Final Thought 💡
“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
- Patrick Rothfuss
Just like last week: the quote does a far better job of explaining the concept than my ramblings.