The internet just gave me permission to do the thing I've been avoiding.
Scrolling Substack, a post jumped out and screamed READ ME!
"If you want to go for a run, go for a run. Don't look for company. Sooner or later, on your fifth run or your twentieth, like-minded people will find you themselves."
— Practical Stoic Advice
It was one of those "the internet gods are speaking directly to me" moments.
Over the past two years, I've taken a hard look at where I am personally and professionally. I discovered that my path had completely lost all semblance of leading anywhere I was interested in going. Sticking to the default, traditional career trajectories was draining my energy, directing me on a more straightforward path to a destination that failed to excite me. Yet, as I looked off the path, my energy returned, quickly followed by epic quantities of self-doubt and second-guessing my decision to step off the beaten path of financial stability and soul-crushing corporate compliance.
In my productive procrastination of overthinking what my energizing alternative path would look like, I discovered several of my core values.
First, I'm a constant learner, particularly when I'm free to learn whatever interests me.
Second, learning for learning's sake isn't enough, and I need to share and help others. This quote by Anton Chekhov defines how I view learning:
"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice." - Anton Chekhov
Cool, helpful in creating my path. But there was one final aspect that was critical to my motivation. While I am a devout, card-carrying introvert, I'm better with running partners. The right people challenge my thinking and provide necessary accountability. Particularly as I explore divergent topics like "I want to create an 11-part series on plastic sustainability" followed by "I just wrote a 5000-word essay on the philosophical wisdom hidden in the original Super Mario Brothers," I sought permission and feedback from someone other than the sycophantic people-pleaser that is generative AI.
I now had a chicken-and-egg problem. I've got these ideas. I'm more energized than I've been in years. I have no idea where any of this goes, or if there's a financially viable model here. Then, the internet clouds parted, and Practical Stoic Advice shone down upon me with the words I needed to read.
"If you want to go for a run, just freakin’ go for a run."
This was my Forrest Gump moment. Unlike Forrest, I was wasting my time and energy trying to plan everything. I needed a sustainable business model. I desired to know this was going somewhere. And I needed to overcome the self-doubt of being a nerdy, wordy guy who decided his career path wasn't doing it for him anymore. I wanted to live a life guided by my core values, with the perpetual tug of being literally Stressed Out with Twenty One Pilots lyrics in my head, pushing:
"Wake up, you need to make money." - Twenty One Pilots
And wanting permission, and more critically, looking for running partners.
I needed to let that go, channel Forrest, and just start running. No plan. No destination in mind. No higher meaning. Just seeking to follow my energy, learn more, and help others.
So that's where I'm at. I'm just running. With a path of topics that is less linear, more like Billy from Family Circus wandering through what interests me, with a desire to find others who want to join me. I already anticipate pending audience confusion with my diverse range of topics. Hopefully, I will provide some entertainment and education while living up to my attempted Stoic ideals of following the intrinsic motivation of what energizes me rather than giving back to the internet gods a search engine optimized perspective of appeasing the algorithm.
Along the way, I'm looking for running partners. Individuals with a desire for divergent system thinking, promoting moderate discourse, bridging diverse sides of an issue to make a genuine impact. I'm looking for real problems to solve and opportunities to fulfill my values of learning, sharing, and making a difference with interesting people. If you ever feel like joining me, lace up, and let's get going.
And if you're looking for permission to start your own Gump-like journey with no destination in mind but mountains of pent-up energy waiting to be unlocked, this is it.
