I’ve decided to reproduce the issues of my newsletter here . This issue was initially sent to subscribers on August 30, 2021. Want to receive future issues in your inbox? Sign up here.
I came up with the concept of magical nihilism while walking to get breakfast on Friday morning, thinking for the 1000th time about how meaningless most things in life are. There are 168 hours in each week, which means I spend about one-fourth of my one wild and precious life creating value for the large organization I work for. It’s probably the best job I’ve had (other than when I worked at a children’s clothing boutique in college), and yet it still requires me to pretend to care about a lot of things that are unequivocally unimportant.
And to be honest, most of the things that irritate me, stress me out, and suck me out of the present moment are similarly meaningless. And I want to give less to those things—less time, less energy, and less brainspace—so that I have more to give to things that do matter to me (a pretty short list that includes art, animals, personal relationships, nature, food, and new experiences). These things are what make my life feel magical and worthwhile.
Anyway, I was heading to get breakfast, inventing this magical nihilism concept as I was embodying it. I typically get to zoomwork by 9 a.m. every single day, but here I was at 9:05 taking a casual stroll to a café while listening to French jazz and wearing a shirt with a cat in a cowboy hat and boots holding an airplane and riding a unicorn, which, like the cat, was wearing dark sunglasses. I was going to be an hour late for work and I just could not gaf. And I realized that I want to geloaf (give even less of a f**ck—still not sure if I’m doing full profanity here) about almost everything. I want to spend more time eating a truffle omelette grilled cheese outside within five feet of a Bernese Mountain Dog and less time worrying about how doing so is going to make me late for filing all the nonsense emails that accumulated overnight.
So congratulations, by signing up for this newsletter you’ve unwittingly become my accountability buddy on Project Geloaf. Here’s hoping I make it worth your while.
Links worth sharing
My super-cool former neighbor Busayo was featured in Fast Company. People used to mail returns to my building and now her stuff is in Saks (and the closets of Madonna and Lupita N’yongo).
Preorder Jamie Varon’s book Radically Content. And follow Jamie on Instagram if you’re not already.
You can make time for things that matter, or you can make time for more email. Super topical for me as I’ve spent much of the past month thinking about where my time is going vs. where I want it to go (I mean, see the concept behind this newsletter).
That’s enough links for this week! Go talk to a dog.
Yours in magical nihilism,
How to Be Creative 