Congratulations on your engagement! My metaphor for doing deeper (“doing” was a typo - I meant “going” - but some typos are meant to be), and committing is this: when I got married, I felt like all the windows that were trying to open on my laptop and were draining the hell out of my “hard drive” finally closed, except one, which instantly loaded. I know this isn’t the most romantic or even creative metaphor but it is the clearest. Too many windows leave us blind and trapped. You only need one through which to open yourself to the world, and vice versa. PS. I also recommend the perennial Cal Newport self help classic DEEP WORK.
no, I love this metaphor! we need to conserve disk space/RAM/CPUs for the important task of going DEEPER into a few commitments instead of doing MANY commitments with inadequate performance…
Happy birthday and congratulations! And thank you for the amazing newsletter - I’ve learned about so many new things and can’t stop admiring your kindness and curiosity.
Thank you!! This means a lot—I'd like to always practice "kindness and curiosity," online and off…so it's wonderful to hear that it comes through in the newsletter
At 29, I do feel like I'm honing in on myself. Not to say I'll stop growing or learning or exploring, but I'll be growing and learning and exploring within a defining set of interests. The prospect of becoming somewhat of an expert on any of them is exciting!
yes, I feel the same way! it feels really exciting—challenging but exciting—to find the right balance between learning new things and sinking deeper and deeper into some areas of specialization
Happy birthday and congratulations. Your newsletter sent me into the Depth Year rabbit hole and I think I'm sold. I've been feeling the overwhelm not only of the TBR pile, but also new ideas all the time. Making the choice to dig in rather than look for more is challenging, which usually means good!
I have one question, though - which is how David Epstein would respond. I'm a fan of Range, in which he writes about the value of having a breadth of knowledge and experience over only depth, and the Depth Year concept is both complimentary and opposite. A dialectic?
Happy birthday and happy engagement! Early 30s is a great age. That was around the time I felt I was finally becoming the person I've wanted to be all my life. I hope you will feel similarly about yourself (if you don't already feel like that).
Thank you, Chris! I hope 2025 is off to a good start, and very much looking forward to more newsletter installments and criticism from you!
I remember you posting something on Substack a few months…I think?…ago, about feeling like your 20s were devoted to doing responsible things and living like you were in your 30s; then your 30s were the time to do the usual 20-something self-actualizing and exploration projects. I suspect my life will feel the same way, tbh
Yeah, I think it was either a passage in an essay or maybe a note that said something about how one of the benefits of living your 20s responsibly so you could be freer in your 30s was more security, but that you miss out on forming the relationships you want in your 20s so you'll never have that long history with your friends.
Hbd and congrats!! If you ever feel like writing more about it I’d love to hear more about how the morning pages practice informs your writing and whether you ever go back and revisit them etc. reading Helen Garner’s diaries has made me wish I had a more deliberate journaling practice, but when I’ve done the artists way I just end up with hundreds of pages of formless nothingness lol (though that is helpful in other ways!). For you, is it a pressure valve release or a diary you can revisit? Or both?
Thank you, and happy new year to you! I have actually been meaning to write more about…morning pages…and how they help me write more in a public sense, too.
The very brief version (but maybe I should write a newsletter about this too?) is that the morning pages function as a bit of everything. I get out a lot of difficult/stressful feelings; I write about what I'm reading and my reactions to it (which sometimes ends up being the seed of a "real" piece of writing); I do some planning and process journaling (like if I'm working on a piece and I'm stuck, I'll write about the problems I'm facing and see if I can journal my way to some resolution).
Lately, I've also been using my journal to do a bit of language learning—I'll write out a sentence in Vietnamese or French (foraged from a news site or a book), and then laboriously translate it to English, as a way of learning new words.
thank you!! and while I'm here I should say that I've really enjoyed and appreciated your reading recs and literature thoughts (on Notes and through your newsletter)…happy new year and have a lovely 2025!
Happy birthday and happy new year! I'm a year older than you and am enjoying the peace that seems to come with your 30s. I definitely feel like I have a better sense of direction now, I hope you will too!
Thank you Maria! I would love more direction, peace and serenity—I do feel these are the great blessings of age, and so I'm very excited for the future. All the best and have a lovely 2025!
I will turn 35 in just about seven weeks, and the notes here on being 30/in you thirties sound apt to me! Looking forward to going deeper in my work, and seeing you so the same. Happy birthday!
I do think it is so useful to really celebrate aging—and celebrating the depth and clarity it brings. I hope you have a lovely 2025 and a lovely birthday when it comes around!!
Congratulations on your engagement! My metaphor for doing deeper (“doing” was a typo - I meant “going” - but some typos are meant to be), and committing is this: when I got married, I felt like all the windows that were trying to open on my laptop and were draining the hell out of my “hard drive” finally closed, except one, which instantly loaded. I know this isn’t the most romantic or even creative metaphor but it is the clearest. Too many windows leave us blind and trapped. You only need one through which to open yourself to the world, and vice versa. PS. I also recommend the perennial Cal Newport self help classic DEEP WORK.
no, I love this metaphor! we need to conserve disk space/RAM/CPUs for the important task of going DEEPER into a few commitments instead of doing MANY commitments with inadequate performance…
Happy birthday and congratulations! And thank you for the amazing newsletter - I’ve learned about so many new things and can’t stop admiring your kindness and curiosity.
Thank you!! This means a lot—I'd like to always practice "kindness and curiosity," online and off…so it's wonderful to hear that it comes through in the newsletter
Happy ✨champagne✨ birthday to you! This will undoubtedly be a magical year for you. xx
happy birthday celine, a happy new year
CONGRATS ON THE ENGAGEMENT DEAREST CELINE
thank you!!!!! hny and may we both have a very fruitful and energizing writing/photographing/filmwatching/poetry reading/living year ahead
At 29, I do feel like I'm honing in on myself. Not to say I'll stop growing or learning or exploring, but I'll be growing and learning and exploring within a defining set of interests. The prospect of becoming somewhat of an expert on any of them is exciting!
yes, I feel the same way! it feels really exciting—challenging but exciting—to find the right balance between learning new things and sinking deeper and deeper into some areas of specialization
Happy birthday and congratulations. Your newsletter sent me into the Depth Year rabbit hole and I think I'm sold. I've been feeling the overwhelm not only of the TBR pile, but also new ideas all the time. Making the choice to dig in rather than look for more is challenging, which usually means good!
I have one question, though - which is how David Epstein would respond. I'm a fan of Range, in which he writes about the value of having a breadth of knowledge and experience over only depth, and the Depth Year concept is both complimentary and opposite. A dialectic?
happy birthday and congratulations, bright Celine:) wishing the best!
Happy birthday and happy engagement! Early 30s is a great age. That was around the time I felt I was finally becoming the person I've wanted to be all my life. I hope you will feel similarly about yourself (if you don't already feel like that).
Thank you, Chris! I hope 2025 is off to a good start, and very much looking forward to more newsletter installments and criticism from you!
I remember you posting something on Substack a few months…I think?…ago, about feeling like your 20s were devoted to doing responsible things and living like you were in your 30s; then your 30s were the time to do the usual 20-something self-actualizing and exploration projects. I suspect my life will feel the same way, tbh
Yeah, I think it was either a passage in an essay or maybe a note that said something about how one of the benefits of living your 20s responsibly so you could be freer in your 30s was more security, but that you miss out on forming the relationships you want in your 20s so you'll never have that long history with your friends.
Hbd and congrats!! If you ever feel like writing more about it I’d love to hear more about how the morning pages practice informs your writing and whether you ever go back and revisit them etc. reading Helen Garner’s diaries has made me wish I had a more deliberate journaling practice, but when I’ve done the artists way I just end up with hundreds of pages of formless nothingness lol (though that is helpful in other ways!). For you, is it a pressure valve release or a diary you can revisit? Or both?
Thank you, and happy new year to you! I have actually been meaning to write more about…morning pages…and how they help me write more in a public sense, too.
The very brief version (but maybe I should write a newsletter about this too?) is that the morning pages function as a bit of everything. I get out a lot of difficult/stressful feelings; I write about what I'm reading and my reactions to it (which sometimes ends up being the seed of a "real" piece of writing); I do some planning and process journaling (like if I'm working on a piece and I'm stuck, I'll write about the problems I'm facing and see if I can journal my way to some resolution).
Lately, I've also been using my journal to do a bit of language learning—I'll write out a sentence in Vietnamese or French (foraged from a news site or a book), and then laboriously translate it to English, as a way of learning new words.
Congratulations!
All of the life!! Thank you for sharing your happy news: happy birthday and congratulations on your engagement!!
thank you!! and while I'm here I should say that I've really enjoyed and appreciated your reading recs and literature thoughts (on Notes and through your newsletter)…happy new year and have a lovely 2025!
Congrats and happy birthday, Celine! 🫶
Happy birthday and congratulations on your engagement!!
Happy birthday and happy new year! I'm a year older than you and am enjoying the peace that seems to come with your 30s. I definitely feel like I have a better sense of direction now, I hope you will too!
Thank you Maria! I would love more direction, peace and serenity—I do feel these are the great blessings of age, and so I'm very excited for the future. All the best and have a lovely 2025!
I will turn 35 in just about seven weeks, and the notes here on being 30/in you thirties sound apt to me! Looking forward to going deeper in my work, and seeing you so the same. Happy birthday!
I do think it is so useful to really celebrate aging—and celebrating the depth and clarity it brings. I hope you have a lovely 2025 and a lovely birthday when it comes around!!