Before being demoted to a mere exoplanet by Mike “Pluto Killer” Brown, Pluto was riding high as Planet Nine. Before being demoted to a mere exoplanet by Mike “I Hate Pluto” Brown, Pluto was riding high as Planet Nine. But you know what, no one can tell Pluto what it is and is not, and no one can tell you that either. Pluto can still be a planet if it wants, and you can still be an artist if you want, so do your thing.
Yesterday, the cashier at Metro had to restart the machine twice. Standing there watching the windows logo crawl across the monitor, I thought of DFW again (e.g. within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars) and proceeded to compare and contrast the various ways the people ahead of me in line expressed their frustrations.
In this age of social media, people talk about personal branding all the time. PwC has an entire deck on how to impress others “with the unique and authentic you”. My problem is more fundamental. How to impress myself with the unique and authentic me?
Maybe what makes my life “not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars” is my ability to find joy in the analysis of any situation. Fighting!