Trade-offs and Triumphs 18 by @jennykim

Issue 18: Migraines and Interstitial Journaling, Promises that Test Us and Finding Play Again, Gratitude Month Ends but Gratitude Never Does

Hello, friends! Thank you to my 95 subscribers, and welcome to my new subscribers!

Welcome to issue 18!

To those who celebrated Thanksgiving last week, I hope that you had a great holiday and some quality time with the loved ones. 👪🦃

How was your week? What were your trade-offs and triumphs?

For those who want a primer on what issue 18 is about - hit “play.”

And thank you Minimum Viable Video.

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A Migraine and An Interstitial Journaling Experiment

This weekend, my body informed me that it was time to stop running and adding more tasks to my “to-do” list - a migraine hit.

Just like a truck ran over Wile E. Coyote. 👇👇👇

So I did what my mind resisted but my body demanded: I slept deeply after I swallowed down two Tylenol tablets.

When I woke up, the migraine pain mostly had receded. My mind had cleared and was open to new ideas.

Like Julia Saxena’s tweet about her latest experiment - “Interstitial Journaling.” Although my constant multi-tasking - among work, parental care, and personal development - did not cause my migraine, the stresses caused by juggling those balls in the air (without dropping them) probably did contribute to my body’s rebellion.

Julia Saxena @julia_saxena

Starting a new experiment: Journaling throughout the day whenever I switch from one task to the next. The goal is to... - combat procrastination - get a sense of what I'm accomplishing each day - keep notes of challenges, ideas, insights Here's how I'm approaching this 👇

I do journal daily, but not in this very specific way about why I dropped balls and failed to transition successfully between projects. It will also make me more deliberate about documenting my trade-offs.

This will be an interesting 2-week experiment for me. Thanks, Julia!

Julia Saxena @julia_saxena

So, in my daily notes, I'll... 1. Note the time. 2. Write about what I just worked on. Are there any parts of that project that I’m still thinking about? 3. Write about what I'm about to work on. What is the first action I’m going to take?

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Promises that Test Us and Finding our Play Again

Once I came out of my migraine-induced fugue, three articles in particular struck me about the trade-offs that we make subconsciously as we try to honor our promises to others and to ourselves:

• The Promise that Tested My Parents Until the End: A few years ago, I am not sure that I would have even paid attention to this article, except as yet another one where the author waxed poetic about his parents’ long-standing marriage. Except now, as I wrestle with my parents’ health issues, I viewed this article as filled with decision points and trade-offs. Why do we choose as we do? How do we honor our promises to others without breaking promises to ourselves? When is honesty betrayal? And what do trade-offs have to do with love?

• Hugh Grant Never Wanted to be Hollywood’s “Romantic Englishman”: I confess, I have never watched a Hugh Grant movie, and I remember him best for his relationship with Elizabeth Hurley. But this interview provided me several insights: 1) Don’t assume that you know anything based on the surface; 2) Don’t glide and slide into what is comfortable based on others’ perception of you, because eventually you will come to hate it; 3) Be prepared to walk away and be conscious of the trade-offs that you make; and 4) If you lose your sense of play and wonder, you will ultimately not grow anymore.

• Japan Keeps This Train Station Running for Just One Regular Passenger (from 2016) (h/t Tamara Winter) In Star Trek II, Spock explains that he sacrificed his life to save his fellow crewmembers, because “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few, or the one.” In Star Trek III, Captain Kirk rescues and “revives” Spock, because “the needs of the one outweighs the needs of the many, or the few.”

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Gratitude Month Ends… but Gratitude Never Does

The month of November ends, the official gratitude month ends, but gratitude as a practice should not end.

Check out Michele Canzi’s newsletter - Borsalino Test #6: 1,000 things I am grateful for - as he writes out 1,000 things he is grateful for.

What are you grateful for?

Michele Canzi @michelecanzi

A fun one to write: 1000 things I am grateful for 501. Colorful surfboards 836. Paid time off 208. Wordless nods of understanding among friends 966. When you manage to get ready super fast when there’s no time to shower 261. Lack of anxiety

michelecanzi.substack.comBorsalino Test #6: 1,000 things I am grateful forReaders, There is something about the times we live in that has turned western civilization into a morass of grumpy old men moaning about shoddy battery life of iPhones. Below there is my intent to exercise gratitude for the sweeter side of things, without sounding saccharine. I honestly do not expe…

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Have any questions or comments? You can find me on Twitter @jennykim or email me at jennykimwop@gmail.com

Check out my website for more: puttingittogether.blog

No lie as a trade-off is ever worth the temporary illusion of triumph. Keep on cultivating that rubber ball heart.

And, find that trade-off that will lead to triumph this week, no matter how small, and celebrate it.

See you next week!