I’m not going to pretend AI isn’t useful, but I’m begging you to look deeper into the arts! That this tech has “given you much more joy than any artist have come close to” is a pretty devastating statement. Connecting deeply with an artist/artwork is imo one of the great experiences of being human.
I’ve been journaling regularly all my life; I consider myself a journaling expert!
I’ve gone through dozens of hardcover Moleskines and a couple Hobonichis, and countless other random notebooks. Because I write so much and don’t want to create waste, I use fountain pens which I fill with my favorite waterproof, UV-resistant, archival inks.
These days I typically use 3 physical journals daily:
- a pocket-sized softcover sketchbook which I keep in my wallet for thoughts/drawings about town
- a larger softcover Leuchtturm for more longform writing, which I bring along when I’m feeling thoughtful
- a Hobonichi “5 year journal” which I keep at home, every morning briefly logging the main events of the previous day
3 books is probably overkill for most people. I don’t set journaling goals/expectations for myself, rather I just write when I feel the need to work something out (which is pretty well all the time). My journals get filled with random doodles, writing in all directions, ticket stubs, etc. I’m quite informal about it but I’m never without some type of notebook. I follow the maxim “an artist is a person with a sketchbook attached,” believing that the same applies to writers and journals. I’m more consistent about carrying my notebooks than I am with carrying my phone.
I also use Obsidian heavily for general PKM, and sometimes journal-type essays wind up in there if my hand is tired.
I highly recommend the nonfiction book ‘The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper’ for those interested in the technology of notebooks/sketchbooks, how they have evolved over time, and how people use them for various applications that most people never think of.
Did you always feel this way? If not, how far can you trace it back? I don’t have any particular expertise in the subject, just curious and willing to listen if you’d like to talk it out.
I'm an extrovert, I can't do without human contact, but at the same time I'm an oddball, which prevents me from building solid connections with most people. This is hell and I can't stop feeling lonely.
Some time ago I was helping my parents with renovation, and I found school documents from my childhood. It said that I had issues getting along with other kids. As an adult I learned what to tell people to get them to like me, but this strategy only gets me to survive in the society, not thrive in it.
It’s really interesting that lack of connection is what you jump to immediately as the cause of your sense of meaninglessness. I wonder what “thriving in society” looks like to you?
And you may have tried this already, but personally I’ve found group hobbies to improve my sense of connectedness. I’m part of a group that meets regularly to sketch on street corners and in coffee shops. I’m not best friends with anyone there, but it’s very fulfilling just to sit with people in the same space for a couple hours, listen to them talk, and share our sketches. There might be drawing, hiking, photography, dance, etc. groups near you…?
You’re certainly not alone in feeling lonely these days though. Modern society is so isolating, connecting feels like such a challenge.
Same. If I have breakfast it seems to kickstart my metabolism or something idk. The result is, if I have breakfast, I’m distracted by hunger all morning. If I skip breakfast I can focus all morning and I don’t get hungry until lunchtime. Bodies are weird.
Same. 9 months into quitting socials I feel like I got a new brain. I’m appreciating my surroundings and noticing the cadence of the day more than I have in years. I’ve been killing it at work and got a promotion. Just last year I had been thinking to myself that my mind had lost its sharpness since college. Now I feel like it’s noticeably expanding!
I will never ever ever ever go back. The perks of online connection were never worth the sacrifices.
> I often fail to finish projects simply because I forget about them. I start reading a book, but I don’t write it down anywhere (say, in Goodreads) that “I’m reading this book” is something I have committed to.
I don’t have a history of ADHD symptoms. But I’ve been happier and arguably more productive since I abandoned the idea that I must complete projects just because I committed to them at the start. Sometimes you learn, halfway through a book, that it doesn’t contain the info you thought it would; then it’s best abandoned. The same applies to many commitments, I think. We learn more about them as we undertake them. Something might stop being engaging because deep down we’ve realized that it won’t serve us as we expected.
But maybe I’m able to discern productive vs nonproductive commitments because I don’t have ADHD? I just hate to see people beating themselves up about not following through with ideas which really don’t deserve follow-through.
Obsidian, along with my notes on everything else in life. I made an Apple Shortcut that saves the contents of a webpage along with its links to my Obsidian as markdown text and as a pdf, so I use that to save blog posts etc that I enjoyed.
