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"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...

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...