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  • 63. Is the pursuit of money worthwhile?

    63. Is the pursuit of money worthwhile?

    Here is the very unfair thing about money: If you have money, it’s easy to gain more. If you don’t have any, it’s hard to gain any.

    I recently read John Green’s essay about Monopoly from The Anthropocene Reviewed. He talks about the unfairness of Monopoly and how it relates to the unfairness of life. Once you have Monopolies, you just get richer and richer until you push people out of the game.

    And once you get rich in real life, it’s really easy to get richer and richer. When you have enough capital, you start investing that, and you get more capital to invest even more.

    When you have a really good resume, you can leave one high-paying job and get an even more high-paying job.

    And when you haven’t been making money and you don’t have very much money in your bank account, it’s really hard to get started.

    In our recent house renovations, we have drained out our savings of the last 10 years as we’ve poured our time and resources into our home. It gets a bit stressful sometimes as we try to avoid debt (though we have a home equity line of credit as a contingency).

    Most people would like more money, even if it wouldn’t necessarily make them happier.

    I have a hard time pursuing after extra money; it’s just not a great motivator for me. But for some people, they spend their whole lives trying to get more and more.

    But money is only good as a means to an end, not an end itself.

    So why are you pursuing money? To live a richer life? To help others? To worry and stress less? To save up for large projects? To provide for your family?

    The reasons matter.

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  • 62. How do I write a resume after taking a break from the workforce?

    62. How do I write a resume after taking a break from the workforce?

    I re-entered the workforce not too long ago (only to leave it again). But I did have to work on my resume, and here are some things that were helpful to me:

    • I kept a list of resume-related accomplishments for years. Brainstorm everything that you’ve done that is job related and stick it down in a document. Then edit through it later.
    • You can include work you didn’t get paid for. Volunteer work and freelance work and random hobbies can be things to include in your resume if they are related to the job you are applying for. I liked designing websites, so I included freelance web designer on my resume, even though I wasn’t always paid for my designs.
    • Improve skills. It’s a good idea to keep improving skills throughout your life and keep learning.
    • Use years, not dates. Instead of saying that you worked at a job from August 2010-September 2013, just say that you worked at the job for three years.
    • Design your resume for the job you’re applying for. Sometimes I’ll have random experience or skills that is specifically related to a job announcement, and I have to make sure to add those in.
    • Be specific.
    • You don’t have to include everything. A resume is a highlight reel and should not be comprehensive.
    • Don’t lie, exaggerate, or hide. You want your resume to be representative of your best self, not your imaginary self.
    • But don’t get too humble. Even if an accomplishment doesn’t really feel that impressive to you, you should probably still include it in your resume.
    Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

  • 61. To be, or not to be?

    My husband, Dillon, wrote that for me today. What does that question mean? Maybe it means that there are times where we just want not to exist, when life is really hard and pressing, and we want to fade our way out of being.

    Maybe it’s about standing up and choosing to be a certain way, to change and move forward.

    Or maybe it’s just an overused line that is easily remembered because the words are short and the rhythm is nice.

  • 60. How do I overcome depression?

    60. How do I overcome depression?

    Depression can be so incredibly painful. Sometimes I’ve been only mildly depressed; sometimes I just hurt all over and didn’t know how to continue onward.

    I’ve had depression after having babies, after moving, in difficult life circumstances, and sometimes for no reason at all.

    But I’m not depressed right now. How did I get through it?

    First, I have to take are of my body. Getting enough sleep, eating right, drinking water, and exercising are all necessary. Also taking medication to help my brain chemistry has been essential for me.

    Second, I know my worth. Every human being has inherent worth; depression likes to suck the worth out of you. But I know that I am a child of God, and that I am deeply loved.

    Third, I learn to accept what I can’t change. I can’t change what has already happened. I can’t change how the world is. I can’t change the fact that I have made mistakes and that I will make mistakes in the future. But if I accept what is, then I can find happiness in the moment.

    overcoming depression

  • 59. What is a hymn that has helped you in your life?

    I love “How Firm a Foundation.”

    It’s a song that takes a hard time and sorrow and lifts that up and brings happiness and joy and action.

  • 58. What are the most important questions?

    I don’t know if I have an answer to this one.

    There are some questions that seem much more important than other questions. And I think the most important questions change on the person and the time and the place.

    Some questions change belief. Some questions change actions. Some questions don’t change anything.

  • 57. Are there stupid questions?

    There is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the common phrase that there are no stupid questions.

    Asking questions can be a confession to our own ignorance. And we don’t’ want to admit we don’t know something.

    But it’s okay if you don’t know something. It’s okay to ask a question even if everyone else around you knows the answer and you think that you should know it to.

    But there are lots of things you don’t know. And it’s so much easier to just asks.

    You know when you forget someone’s name even though you actually know them really well? Sometimes it’s okay to just apologize and ask.

    Have you started a new task and someone explains it to you as if it’s the easiest thing in the world, and you have no idea what they are talking about? It’s okay to ask for clarification.

    Do you ever struggle with things that everything else takes for granted? It’s okay to ask for help in your own journey.

    When I was younger, I didn’t ask a lot of questions because I wanted to already know things more than I wanted to admit my own ignorance. But as I got older, I realized that asking questions was actually sign of intelligence, not of stupidity.

    So ask away.

    But in answer to my question, yes, there are many stupid questions. Questions asked in the pursuit of knowledge are not stupid; questions asked in the pursuit of humor and laziness can be stupid. And sometimes it’s just the wrong time and place to ask certain questions.

  • 56. Do chairs exist?

    I recently watched this video:

    One conclusion is that chairs do not exist, which comes about due to some jumping through arguments about metaphysics and language.

    But here is my thought: the concept of chair is useful. We all know what it means and have an understanding of it. Because of that usefulness and common understanding, chairs exist.

    We might not be able to come up with a solid definition of what a chair is. We might be completely unsure what is “real” and what are the qualifications for something to “exist.” Thinking about it too much might lead to some interesting paradoxes and questions.

    Yet at the end of the day, the philosophizing ends and we go and and sit on our chairs and we know what a chair is.

    So is the pursuit of questioning the existence of things actually useful for something? Or is it just for fun?

  • 55. What if I fail? But what if I succeed?

    55. What if I fail? But what if I succeed?

    I feel like I failed at some things in my life, and sometimes I just didn’t try because I didn’t think I could be successful.

    I saw this quote on a garage wall from Angela Rose Home:

    What if I fall? Oh, but darling, what if you fly?

    by Erin Hanson (a poet who wrote those words as a teenager)

    Here’s the thing: I’ve failed enough that sometimes I feel more like this:

    We don’t believe what’s on TV
    Because it’s what we want to see
    An’ what we want we know we can’t believe
    We have all learned to kill our dreams

    by Twenty One Pilots

    I have literally learned to kill my dreams because I tried for things and it didn’t work out. I realized that some of my dreams were impossible and the world simply didn’t operate the way I wanted it to. I learned about my own deficiencies and sometimes my own unwillingness to sacrifice for success.

    I see people with successful creative pursuits, but I also wonder if success operates like a pyramid scheme sometimes, with a lot of people at the bottom who are failing and struggling.

    I don’t want to get involved in a pyramid scheme where I’m going to be sinking all my time and my hopes and my dreams into something that will never succeed.

    But here’s the thing: I still write this blog. I thought about giving up a lot lately, because I go to many other websites and blogs and there are people there. My blog is not like that. I only get a few views here and there, and I’m mostly writing to my mom, my sister, and my husband. I don’t know if anyone else reads this.

    I still write this blog. And maybe that’s what success is about: choosing to pursue something so worthwhile that it doesn’t really matter if you succeed or not; the very pursuit of that thing is good enough.

  • 54. How can I help?

    Sometimes I want to do more good in the world and serve and help others more. But sometimes I am just lazy. I have good ideas of what to do, but then I fail to follow through. It will take me weeks to write a letter or go visit someone.

    Service takes work. To really help someone, you don’t get to just swoop in and make a huge different really quickly. There needs to be times of learning and growing and observing.

    It’s sort of like when you are using a paint sprayer: it is really satisfying to spray paint and have it instantly and beautifully paint something. But in order for that to work, you have to spend so much time taping things off and protecting other things. You have to identify and prepare what actually needs to be painted instead of just spraying everything.

    And making a difference requires a lot of prep work. It requires learning and growing and figuring out what other people need.