Cultivating Your Best Self, Navigating the Unknown Path, and Turning Struggle into Artwork
Issue #1 of my bi-weekly newsletter, curated specifically for the ambitious individual that aims higher than they could ever imagine.
I’m challenging myself to produce a bi-weekly newsletter that draws from what I’ve recently consumed. Every day, I strive to learn something new and improve myself. No matter how minuscule or intangible it may seem, I’m confident it will pay dividends in the future, as long as I continue on this path and chase my idealized self. And hopefully that idealized self is well-read, open to ideas, and interdisciplinary.
So I’m sharing 5 different things in 5 different mediums that I think is worth your time, hopefully it will spark something inside of you.
Podcast: Ari Wallach: Create Your Ideal Future Using Science-Based Protocols (YT Video, Spotify) via Huberman Lab
As someone that’s studied neuroscience in the past, I’ve become quite fond of Andrew Huberman’s podcast over the years. He always provides an abundance of applicable science-based knowledge (tools, frameworks) that can be harnessed to improve the day-to-day. It also doesn’t have as much scientific jargon that one may presume, so don’t be intimidated!
In this episode, Ari Wallach and Andrew Huberman talk through several existential concepts like time perception, leaving behind a legacy, visualizing your future-self and how we should move forward together as a society. Anything existential can get anxiety-inducing and cause an insurmountable amount of stress, but this episode showcases ways to diminish that angst to cope with our chaotic world.
In case you don’t have your own Pinterest page, I highly recommend signing-up so you can start creating a moodboard. Pinterest is an infinite source of inspiration, creativity, and aesthetics, ideally motivating you each and every time towards your dreams. Yes, its manifestation in a nut shell.
I’m a sucker for these kind of photos on Pinterest and I think it completely resonates with my current stage of life. For some odd reason, I’m always trying to create random sh*t nowadays (i.e., this newsletter) and it’s truly what drives me because I know I’ll become an infinitely better version of myself by the end of the project.
Instead of critiquing the world and all of its flaws, try being the difference maker and create a better version of tomorrow, no matter the scale. You never know what kind of person you’ll end up becoming if you take that leap.
Video: How Unseen Struggle Fuels Your Greatest Work via Creative Minds (YouTube video, substack)
The YouTube channel Creative Minds is a goldmine for anyone that considers themselves as a creative. He masterfully distills the on-going woes of the creative journey and sheds light on applicable ways to overcome these esoteric problems. His channel features world renowned artists of every creative genre: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tyler the Creator, Virgil Abloh, Rick Rubin, and many, many more.
What I appreciate the most about his channel is that he’s unifying the creative struggle, building an online community that shares the same multifaceted issues. And he does this through multiple domains of creativity.
There’s thousands of others that are also dreaming for that big breakthrough; let’s help each other to achieve that.
This video exemplifies how several artists channel their struggles of mental health and transmutes that struggle to create some of their most iconic artwork. The video touches upon ADHD, substance abuse, addiction, and other internal issues that many artists endure daily.
At times, you can be your own biggest enemy. It’s easy to get-in-your-own-head as a creative and it can significantly attribute to the lack of overall production. Don’t be your own enemy, be your own friend!
Essay: “Main Character Syndrome” by Pam Weintraumb on Aeon
The term “main character” has been circulating the lexicon of the youth and is often referenced in a positive light, granting people the freedom and power to do what they want, how they want, by any means possible. However, embodying the “main character” persona has its own pitfalls, disregarding the reason why humanity has progressed this far in the first place: developing relationships and growing akin to each other.
Book: The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd (Goodreads, Amazon)
If you feel like you’re lost in the modern world, dissatisfied with your current occupation, struggling to find your calling, or everything and in-between, this book is a must-read.
On the pathless path, the goal is to not find a job, make money, build a business, or achieve any other metric. It’s to actively and consciously search for the work that you want to keep doing.”
[…]
What does make sense is experimenting with different kinds of work, and once you find something worth doing, working backward to build a life around being able to keep doing it.”
- Paul Millerd
In Millerd’s novel, he explores the idea of two different paths in life. The “default path” is the path that society has constructed for you, instilling beliefs of the “American Dream” and how you should be living your life in accordance to everyone else. This path revolves around the acceptance of a regular 9-5 job. This is far from being a bad thing, society has flourished exponentially since the Industrialization age.
Alternatively, the “pathless path” is a never-ending search of self-discovery. Through experimentation and being boundless, you’re opening yourself up to the unknown and its unlimited possibilities. The pathless path requires you to be comfortable with not knowing what will happen to you and your future endeavours. You could be destined to live a very different life than your current circumstances, but you’re unwilling to give yourself the time to develop your hidden potential.
I firmly believe that everyone is meant to be something in this convoluted world, but modern society isn’t constructed to explore that something.
If you’ve read this far into the newsletter, I have a feeling that you’ve found yourself between these two paths multiple times, questioning if now is the right time to make that change. By the way, there’s no right time.
If this post was at all helpful in any way shape or form, please subscribe to my Substack. Thanks for reading.
Congrats on launching your newletter Brent! Can’t wait to see what this journey has in store for you! 🥹
Hey Brent, thanks for including my channel here. I really enjoyed reading this - and I've been meaning to check out that book 'The Pathless Path'. This has inspired me to do so very soon. Thanks for the writing and godspeed your project.