🪵 Like Sid the Sloth

Hey everyone, 

Anyone have feedback on the newsletter? Ideas to improve it? Don’t mess with a good thing? 

Would be grateful for some fresh ideas that better align with The Thinking Log community interests. 

Just throwing it out there! Feel free to reply to this email if so.

Enjoy!🪵

Roots 🌱 

Something from me

In last week’s Log, I included a podcast recommendation from Ethan in Washington, DC. If you haven’t listened to it already, I’ll second the recommendation. Or if you’re like me and aren’t great at absorbing podcasts, I’ll offer a main takeaway that centers on the idea of community & loneliness. Something near and dear to this space!

For so many reasons, the hosts discussion on “choosing the problems of community versus the problems of a lack of community” stuck with me. They used this comparison in regards to co-living versus living alone, but I think this juxtaposition carries weight to other facets of life.

I was struck by this outline as it relates to family and as it relates to friendships. All examples of relationships discussed last week that require work and have their ups and downs. For some reason, when reduced to the reality that all relationships or lack thereof carry their own problems & nuance, it highlights which problems one might rather face. A lesser of two evils perhaps!

One of the first things I learned from my therapist was that having no relationship is still a relationship, as long as that is defined. For a long time, this gave me comfort in knowing that while I went a couple years without speaking to my dad, it was on my terms and was part of our evolving relationship. Evergreen. Fast forward to today, and I have settled on choosing the “problems” of holding an engaged relationship with my dad rather than sitting with the awareness that my relationship with him might be non-existent in nature. For me, that felt important. To feel okay with where we were at. And even that realization came courtesy of the advice from dear friend.

I also think about my family & extended family where despite differences in how we all live our lives sometimes arousing conflict, there is a habit of gathering, a default of support borne out of a history of choosing the problems of community versus a lack of community. 

I think about friends and how in our mid-late twenties we enter into the phase of life where proximity, time and priority put strain on ties that were previously so concrete. And they still are, but choosing to face the problems of community that come with time sounds far more appealing than the avoidance altogether. 

While the reduction of relationships to a comparison of problems may minimize their complexity, it certainly crystalizes how to value growth alongside people in your life. Perhaps it's the extrovert in me, but I choose the problems of community everyday. Like Sid the Sloth, I choose life 🙂 

Trunk 🪵 

How we grow

On the importance of work, family, and community in leading a meaningful life:

It’s well documented that looking inward is a path to greater self awareness. As mentioned here, I’ve found that looking just outside of inward - to your loved ones and community - is equally as valuable.

It may be the classic case of you being the people you surround yourself with, but sometimes it helps to see yourself in other people in your life rather than searching your own mind for all the answers all the time.

Always seeking the balance between the two of course 🙂 

Branches 🌲 

Something from you

Thanks to a fellow Thinking Logger for sharing their thoughts on last week’s Log:

Well said!

Leaves 🍃 

Something to leave you with

Men's Social Circles are Shrinking

• “Nearly one in five Americans reported having no close social connections, a double-digit increase from 2013. And young men are faring worse than most: More than one in four (28 percent) men under the age of 30 reported having no close social connections”

Emotional Support Findings in Teenage Boys

• Thanks to Julia in Boston, MA for this share. Informative and maybe even a chuckle!

How Communities Around the World Connect Social Isolation & Health

• Great (and hopeful!) read :)

The goal of this blog is to learn a ton and to help others do the same.

Your feedback is always welcome, and if there’s a topic that you want to hear more about, please contact me or fill out this quick survey!

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I’m stoked to have you here and talk soon!

Greg

Wind 🌬️ 

What I’m listening to

They don’t miss. That opening chord is absolute gravy, luv 😮‍💨 

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