Life lessons

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  1. Actions define a person. An ideology that never appears in daily conduct is only decoration.
  2. God is in the details. A finished work is the accumulation of meaningful strokes, including the ones nobody else notices.
  3. Contentment is not anticipation. At twenty-two, I once walked outside in the sun with nothing on my mind and nothing I was waiting for. Everything was beautiful. I thought that if life ended at that instant, I would already be satisfied.
  4. Intensity is both a strength and a trap. I tend either to commit completely or lose interest. The task is not to remove that intensity, but to stop requiring every worthwhile action to begin with inspiration.
  5. Memory follows emotion. Events associated with grief, fear, or joy can remain vivid even when they are neither recent nor frequently revisited.
  6. Do not carry everything alone. When I feel overwhelmed, my instinct is to act normal and search for a private solution. On one occasion, nothing changed until I told someone I trusted exactly how I felt. I learned that distress does not always contain a puzzle I must solve. Sometimes I have simply been carrying too much in silence.
  7. Find someone to propel you. Find the colleagues who says your name in rooms you are not in, brings you into important work, and introduces you to people who change your trajectory. Find a partner whose ambitions encourages you to imagine a better life. Find friends who inspire you, challenge you, and expand your world. Progress is RARELY solitary. Choose people who make your world bigger, and become that person for others.
  8. The couch makes me anxious. Movement makes me excited.