"New Year, New Me"...is bullshit (but there's still stuff we can learn)

It IS a new year

But you are still the same you. And I'm still the same me.

Now actions? Those can change. Mindsets? Those can change too.

It's easy to get lost thinking about being someone new or different. Running from your past into a future sloughed of your mental and emotional snakeskins. Burying your failures, writing your successes in stone, and resting on your laurels.

But who you are, and who you will become, are all direct functions of who you were and where you came from.

------

A quick aside - a history lesson and thought experiment:

The Ship of Theseus

An ancient story and philosophical paradox/thought experiment.

Imagine you have a ship made of wood called the "Grand Miss."

Now, imagine that the Grand Miss is old and needs fixing. So you take her to the port and ask your favorite shipbuilders to handle the repairs.

The shipbuilders meticulously, piece-by-piece, replace EVERY board on the ship with a new board. They start with planks on the side of the ship, move to the interiors, and then finally replace the boards on the deck.

Once they are complete - they come back to you and let you know they have finished.

So...is the Grand Miss the same Grand Miss that you pulled into port? If every single board has been replaced with a new board - does the ship maintain its identity?

What do you think?

------

As humans - we are "stuck" with the bodies and histories that we have (pending any scientific or spiritual advancements that render this obsolete).

So what can we do moving forward?

Revisit your mistakes - What can you learn from them? How can you avoid falling into the same pits?

Tour your successes - What made them great? What can you do to bring about similar wins?

Study your habits - Mistakes and successes are merely "events" - What do you do between events? What actions do you do every day, week, month?


As we embark on 2025 - reflect on these topics and consider these questions. Do you need some repairing? Are there boards that you want to replace? Are there enhancements you can make?

 

Board Addition, Replacement, and Repair Brainstorming:

- Embrace curiosity

- Engage in physical activity

- Learn and practice something new

- Spend time outdoors


You get to design and build your ship. Is it capable to handle the journeys you wish to take?


References:

YouTube: Better Than Yesterday - 6 Lessons We Learn Too Late In Life (14m50s)

Wikipedia: Ship of Theseus

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's in a gamertag?

What does your gamertag mean to you? Did you pick it or was it chosen for you? Do you see it as you or is it a descriptor of you? I've worn many tags. sh0ck, Sedkuh, Tomoto, Reekow, germany-boy, Y2S Big Bird, and countless others. Sedkuh is the merging of my gaming and professional self. Tomoto is my healing-focused self. Reekow is my action-focused self. germany-boy is my premature mature self. Y2S Big Bird is my social-focused self. But sh0ck is the name I most associate with. I picked it in early college. It was originally aftersh0ck, but I eventually shortened it to just sh0ck - or "ix sh0ck xi" if you're talking Xbox Live gamertags (the x's, i's, and 0 are/were important to me). In my IRL life I tend to be quiet and reserved. I'm thoughtful, but not action-forward. I observe, watch, and only act when/as needed. But sh0ck - sh0ck is a go-getter. He's the guy out in front. He's daring, stoic, and experimental. He's the "speak softly but...
Read more

How to Achieve Anything: A Traveler’s Guide to Life and Goals

Image
How do you achieve what you want? How do you create something from nothing - something that only exists as ideas that live in your head? How can you do this in an abstract (repeatable; reusable) yet actionable manner? How do you travel to a place, or in a direction, that you've never traveled before?   NEWS FLASH: If you don't make it happen, it's not going to happen. You can endlessly hope that your dream life will land in your lap. Has it happened to some people? Sure. Can you count on it happening? Hell no. If you passively let life happen, others may exploit your energy while you drift without direction. You get to pick what you want to do and where you want to go.   See below for: I want to travel to a specific location (goal-oriented; specific, measurable outcome) I want to travel in a "specific" direction (growth-oriented; nonspecific, immeasurable outcome)
Read more