Derek Sivers, on how to improve life, not by adding things but by subtracting things:
The least successful people I know run in conflicting directions, are drawn to distractions, say yes to almost everything, and are chained to emotional obstacles.
The most successful people I know have a narrow focus, protect themselves against time-wasters, say no to almost everything, and have let go of old limiting beliefs.
It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead at what to remove.
Astronautalis, a touring musician who’s been on the road for quite a long time now:
I do enjoy being home. But I am at my most comfortable when I’m gone.
He doesn’t necessarily loathe being home; he wants to disconnect, escape the day-to-day life. That’s where his motorcycle comes in the picture:
When you get on the motorcycle you leave everything. You can’t talk on the phone, you can’t text, you can’t look at the internet … that kept me from going crazy, from losing my mind, from falling down a rabbit hole without my music. So now it’s a weird thing when I get home from tour all I want to do is get on the motorcycle and leave home. The refuge that I found from music and touring is more leaving.
Replace motorcycle with diving and you’ll understand why I’ve logged more than 100 dives during the past year (and why there are some gaps in my posting-continuity here: I went diving*). Escaping to the under water world is both relaxing and liberating. Under water your hear nothing. Not even yourself.
Having gone through quite a lot of changes on a personal level during the past two years, this quote by Jen Sutherland-Miller – taken from her blogpost F*ck Work-Life Balance – struck me as it’s exactly what I’ve been doing the last year:
I gave myself permission to say, “Yes,” to the things that inspire me and, “No,” to the things that no longer serve me.
It might give you a clue as to why I switched jobs, why I’m less active in Scouting than I used to be, why I’ve been following that many PADI Specialty Courses, and why I went on two diving holidays already this year, etc.
