So glad I found your blog! I enjoyed reading this and I'll carry that quote(about the curveball) with me...
So many people talk about "becoming", as if growth and/or enlightenment or progression is *only* a process of addition, when it's actually about BEING you(generic you, i.e. all of us)...and often involves LOTS of subtraction of unworkable and even toxic models of identity and behavior...Does that make sense?
At 65, I feel like my struggle has been to see and understand who I actually am and to simply give myself the freedom to BE. The traumas, the scripts, the expectations(personal and/or societal), the unexamined assumptions and models of behavior I have internalized...have ended up being reminders to NOT make myself literally sick(physically, emotionally, spiritually), once I became aware of them, by trying to squeeze myself into them.
You, me...All of us...are "enough"...and more...without having to be taller or thinner or heavier or more...whatever...
Thank you so much, Mark. Right, before we can “be something” for society, and many times that is a toxic goal in itself, we forget just to “be.”
And all those messages you mentioned want us to skip that step. But if we’re to be hopeful in this life, we should remember that there’s enough people in this world we have yet to meet who accept us and add to our lives just at “being.”
I fw this so hard. The variable analogy is wonderful, and helps me think more healthily about the “look at XYZ celebrity and what they could mean to you as a ‘different’ man” discourse. Thanks for this.
This was such a wonderful read. As someone who has never quite fit I found resonance here. I really enjoyed seeing through a mathematical lens-just beautiful.
Powerful piece Evan!
I’m a lover of analogies and appreciate the way you weaved together your journey, baseball and the principles required to be oneself in both.
Thank you so much, Jamal. Yes, for everyone it’s a different journey with different poetry to survive it & thrive in it
So glad I found your blog! I enjoyed reading this and I'll carry that quote(about the curveball) with me...
So many people talk about "becoming", as if growth and/or enlightenment or progression is *only* a process of addition, when it's actually about BEING you(generic you, i.e. all of us)...and often involves LOTS of subtraction of unworkable and even toxic models of identity and behavior...Does that make sense?
At 65, I feel like my struggle has been to see and understand who I actually am and to simply give myself the freedom to BE. The traumas, the scripts, the expectations(personal and/or societal), the unexamined assumptions and models of behavior I have internalized...have ended up being reminders to NOT make myself literally sick(physically, emotionally, spiritually), once I became aware of them, by trying to squeeze myself into them.
You, me...All of us...are "enough"...and more...without having to be taller or thinner or heavier or more...whatever...
Thanks for your words, carry on👍🏽🙏🏽
Thank you so much, Mark. Right, before we can “be something” for society, and many times that is a toxic goal in itself, we forget just to “be.”
And all those messages you mentioned want us to skip that step. But if we’re to be hopeful in this life, we should remember that there’s enough people in this world we have yet to meet who accept us and add to our lives just at “being.”
I fw this so hard. The variable analogy is wonderful, and helps me think more healthily about the “look at XYZ celebrity and what they could mean to you as a ‘different’ man” discourse. Thanks for this.
Thank you so much
This was such a wonderful read. As someone who has never quite fit I found resonance here. I really enjoyed seeing through a mathematical lens-just beautiful.
Thank you - I truly appreciate that it resonated like that for you