33. A Rather Harsh Review Of Ben Nevis
Frieeeennnnnnnds,
Good morning from me and my two favourite Australian boys.
1. Are you missing your morning commute?
Drive and Listen* pairs dashcam videos with local radio stations from around the world. Without leaving home, you can cruise the streets of London to Los Angeles, Beijing to Buenos Aires, Tokyo to Tel Aviv and beyond.
*street noise on and it’s waaaaaaay better on a desktop.
2. 2021
I feel like these planners epitomise the calm, drama-free 2021 I am hoping for.
Made in Switzerland.
So much more than just an appointment book, this planner is a cross between a calendar, a diary, a notebook, and a book. It comes with an underlying message that encourages people to think and/or challenge themselves. It's the perfect medium for this purpose, as the user can carry it throughout the year and access it at any spare moment. Each planner's title is created in such a way that it can become a particular year's motto, and the user is invited to create a personal story within the story told by the planner. This makes each edition unique so it becomes a collector's item and later, a record of your past.
3. Emotional … Intelligence?
This great take on what emotional intelligence is and isn’t — via Craig Mod’s monthly newsletter.
Personal attacks are often emotionally driven attacks. And in that sense, they are perhaps the simplest indication of someone with low emotional intelligence. Personal attacks represent low impulse-control. They are childish by default, and often have no lasting useful effect. Folks who tend to attack — rather than deconstruct, or empathize — are often trapped in tremendously narrow world views. They tend to see all relationships as existing within a thin column, a tight hierarchy of being above or below each other. And in service to that “alpha” pole position at the top of the column, they need to attack and make sure you or your work sits below. The emotionally intelligent person recognizes that this person’s thin column is not the world, steps outside of it (or chooses not to enter the column by disengaging), and looks on with a mixture of pity and freedom as the attacker is stuck in a cage of their own historical construction.
If you’re looking to increase your own emotional intelligence — that is, if you find yourself overly enthralled to impulse above rationality or equanimity — I’ve personally found therapy to paid handsome dividends. The ability to self-analyze can be learned with the help of a good therapist. A good therapist should be of supreme emotional intelligence. Disengage, immediately, from any therapist that judges or berates. They are not the teacher you’re looking for. In developing the skill of self-analysis, one gets better at understanding an impulse as it arises, seeing it for what it is, and analyzing how best to channel that primal energy. Done over and over it becomes a habit. The best habits define our identities.
Emotional intelligence can very much be learned.
4. A Documentary
Check out this documentary on Kilian Jornet's Path to Everest.
It will give you the exact opposite feeling from reading 2020 news.
Trust me.
5. Reading
My mom died of early-onset Alzheimers in her 50’s, almost 17 years ago. So I make a point to read and learn as much as I can about this disease in the hopes that I can stave off my own potential diagnosis.
This was a heart-wrenching and tender read.
Nicci lost her Dad to dementia and went through absolute hell with the UK care system whilst he deteriorated. He was left alone for days on end and she was not allowed to visit him which led to a severe deterioration in his condition. She has since set up John’s Campaign which fights for the right of people with dementia to be supported by their family carers. Over 400 UK hospitals have already signed up to support the campaign.
If you, or anyone close to you has been impacted by dementia, please feel free to support the campaign here.
10 early signs of Alzheimer’s here.