3 MINUTE MONDAYHi friend, A friend did a mushroom trip and a question came to him: “Do people love you for who you are or for what you do?” This is uncomfortable to consider. People loving us for who we are feels more real, genuine, caring, empathetic and robust. It feels like it’s less fickle and more difficult to lose. On the other hand, people loving us for what we do feels transactional and transient. The love we receive becomes contingent on what achievements and successes we can offer in return. And the obvious fear is that if a point came where we no longer had anything to offer in return, would our love be taken away? So here’s an even more uncomfortable question… “Do you love you for who you are or for what you do?” Oooo. Nowhere to hide now buddy. This highlights our hypocrisy. You see, we want the world to love us for who we are. A balanced, caring view of our true value, independent of our accomplishments. Meanwhile our own self-love is largely determined by what we do. If we fall short, even though we know we tried our best, we still castigate ourselves for being insufficient, unworthy creatures. So we want the world to show up for us in a way that we are often not prepared to show up for ourselves. You deserve more than this, demand it of yourself. MODERN WISDOMI do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This week’s upcoming episodes: Monday. Thursday. Saturday. THINGS I'VE LEARNED1. According to recent polling, both sexes think it’s worse for a husband than a wife to have an affair – the opposite of the traditional double standard. 53% of men say it’s always morally wrong for a married woman to have an affair. 61% of men say it’s always morally wrong for a married man to have an affair. 56% of women say it’s always morally wrong for a married woman to have an affair. 70% of women say it’s always morally wrong for a married man to have an affair. — h/t Steve Stewart-Williams 2. “Notice it's always "smash the system" and "demolish capitalism" and "eat the rich." It's never "help the needy" or "feed the poor." You'll see a thousand communists say "billionaires shouldn't exist" but not a single one who says "poor people shouldn't exist.” — Rob Henderson 3. “In a relationship, roughly the only thing that matters is if you can be yourself around them… shared hobbies, attraction, lifestyle alignment is downstream. If you can’t be fully yourself around someone, you’re either performing or negotiating constantly. & over time that corrodes everything. True intimacy is being radically unedited & still accepted. The rest is just set design.” — Signull LIFE HACKGymshark 48 hour sale. Time to stock up. Get up to 50% off Gymshark’s best sellers plus another 10% off when you use code MODERNWISDOM10 Big love, Try my productivity drink Neutonic. PS |
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3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, The brand new Modern Wisdom Reading List Vol. 2 is live, featuring 100 more books to read before you die. Download it now - https://chriswillx.com/morebooks/ I saw a comment on one of my videos this week that really struck me. I wish I could remember who posted it but I can’t. Thank you for inspiring this essay <3 “Why is it that when I mess up it’s my fault but when other people mess up it’s also my fault?” Let’s call this The Atlas Complex. If you care too much...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, We live with a quiet superstition: that beneath the noise of our habits, mistakes and contradictions lies a truer version of ourselves - a self that is fundamentally good. An alcoholic who gets sober is “becoming who he really is”, a sober man who starts drinking again has “lost his way.” In Scrooge, Dickens didn’t just write about a man who swapped stinginess for generosity; he wrote about a man who discovered his real nature. When Richard Nixon fell in disgrace,...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, Humans have an asymmetry of errors. We over-index exceptions - we use things that break the pattern we’ve come to expect as a serious learning opportunity. But we tend to only learn much faster from errors of commission (things we do), not errors of omission (things we don’t do). You only learn the sting of misplaced trust when someone betrays you, but when you refuse to trust and miss out on love, partnership, or help, the loss leaves no scar to remind you. It’s...