Not another "X Lessons in X Years" post
Birthdays, eternal recurrence, and reinventing yourself
It’s my birthday, and I’ll be honest: I was all set to write one of those “X Lessons in X Years” posts you see all over Twitter. But it’s been a busy weekend, and I couldn’t quite think of 39 punchy, counterintuitive points worth sharing. Maybe that’s for the best—lists of advice like that tend to give us a quick hit of dopamine, but it’s hard to actually implement any of it without further context.
Instead, I’m going to go old-school Mindful Mondays here and share some writing, podcasts, and thoughts I’ve been pondering lately. (But I still may pull out the “40 lessons” post next year.)
Article I’m Reading
September: On beginnings and eternal recurrences by
. “A new beginning doesn’t have to be a revolution.” In the spirit of my recent “Back to School” newsletter, I really savored this essay from Silvio, which combines Nietzche’s idea of the Eternal Recurrence with a poetic appreciation of September. If you love autumn leaves, school supplies, learning, and starting new habits, this is well worth your while.Podcast I’m Listening To
Overhaul Your Life (Ep. 263): In this episode of The Deep Life with author and computer science prof Cal Newport, we discover that Cal shares my opinion that September, not January, is the best time to make significant changes to your life. Cal is the originator of the Deep Work meme, and in this show, he shares a detailed, 4- month plan which, if it resonates with you and you decide to follow it, will allow you to re-focus and deepen your engagement with your life this fall.
The process starts with re-connecting with your values (one of my favorite things to harp on in therapy) and includes learning new skills or hobbies in addition to mastering your time management. If you decide to do this, let me know, maybe we can get a club going or something.
Quote I’m Pondering
“It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books." —C.S. Lewis
Random Photo
In case you’re wondering how a nerdy therapist/coach celebrates his birthday, the answer is that my girlfriend, some good friends and I spent Saturday at the Vista Viking Festival. Despite my serious face in this photo, we had an awesome time.
Skål!
—Chris Cordry, LMFT
PS: Are you looking to make significant changes to your personal or work life this fall, and feel like you could use some individualized support and accountability? You can simply reply to this email to set up a time to chat about 1:1 coaching.
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Thank you, Chris, for the shout out! Love the C.S. Lewis quote. And the photo is just precious! :)