How To Be Alone by Tanya Davis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs
It's such a lovely video. It also made an impression on me years ago, and I sent it to many people over the years.
Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
101–110 of 118 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#102I really want to understand how can a blog post have a major impact on your life? What kind of life should it be that it is easily changed by random opinions of some random people... Unless it is a blog post with a password to a huge Bitcoin wallet :)
Sometimes it's a subtle change of perspective, or a model that clarifies your thoughts. At the time it just feels like clever words, but the words stick, and slightly affect the course of your life.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#103I really want to understand how can a blog post have a major impact on your life? What kind of life should it be that it is easily changed by random opinions of some random people... Unless it is a blog post with a password to a huge Bitcoin wallet :)
Sometimes it's a subtle change of perspective, or a model that clarifies your thoughts. At the time it just feels like clever words, but the words stick, and slightly affect the course of your life.
If it’s subtle - you would not be able to pinpoint it and say yes, this exact post did it, no?
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#104I really want to understand how can a blog post have a major impact on your life? What kind of life should it be that it is easily changed by random opinions of some random people... Unless it is a blog post with a password to a huge Bitcoin wallet :)
I had a lengthy response in my mind, but this attitude leads me to believe you probably won't find much value in it. I'll just say that sometimes, someone can explain an issue or a concept in a way that really strikes you. Maybe it's a perspective on an important issue that changes how you view it, or maybe it's an idea that opens up an entirely new avenue of thought you hadn't considered. Sometimes that random stran…
Totally agree. For example some Paul Graham’s posts still resonate with me.
But is it “life changing”?
That is too much to attribute.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#105ADHD - A Lifelong Struggle https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html This article made me question if the author was describing my life rather than their own, so I went and got checked for ADHD. 2 years, a diagnosis, and a medication regime later, I'm absolutely fucking slaying it and it was this article that sparked the change.
This was incredibly wonderful and helpful, and it feels like I could have written it word to word. Thank you so much for putting this out there, it found me and got me to book an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#106This blog post on dating. https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/models-a-summ... Alright, it's not really a blog post about dating , per se. It's more of a blog post about becoming the kind of person who maxes out their dateability, no matter what their starting physical/mental/spiritual condition. It's hard to explain what reading this post did to me. There are a few times in my life where I consciously dec…
Why did you decide to become an idiot at age 8? Sounds like there has to be a story there!
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#107I have two that I keep coming back to and function as the ying and yang in my mental model.
* Industrial Society and Its Future by Ted Kaczynski. The first half I reread often because it is a short critique of technology/technique and the effect that it has on our life. Though not original, it touches on this feeling that we are enslaved to our tools. It also reminds me that "no, i'm not crazy" this world is totally absurd and the way we live makes no sense. Obviously, if you take this philosophy to its natural extreme you need to go live in the woods and suffer. Which is kind of larping.
* This is Water by David Foster Wallace. I reread this and hand out copies of this book to people all the time. For me it speaks to the part of me that knows that it is important to choose wisely what you focus your thoughts on, because if I don't the automatic monologue in my head will take over. It will start with complaining. It will continue with painting everything black. It will make me misrable and incapable of enjoying the beauty in life.
I am trying to break out of these two book being so influential because I feel like to grow I need to evolve a new understanding and have new ideas to toy with.
Anyone have recommendation?
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read his posts about the hedonic treadmill and general anti-car-dependence at the time that I was considering a (nicer) replacement for a car that had developed expensive problems. I ended up selling the car and we've been a one-car household ever since... despite the addition of our kid.
Could you share the specific article you mentioned about the hedonic treadmill and general anti-car dependence? It sounds very insightful, and I’d love to read it. Thanks!
This one is rather harsh, but it made me think even more about my car use (I already lived within walking distance of a subway and a commuter rail station, so was ripe for further changing my habits): https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/04/22/curing-your-clown...
Hedonic adaptation: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/22/what-is-hedonic-a...
Basically, once you’re accustomed to a certain “luxury,” it can feel like a necessity, even if you were content without it before.
Flipside: once you’re used to doing without something, you may find that you don’t really miss it, even if before you had trouble imagining doing without (in my case, full time car usage - I grew up in suburban Texas)
Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#109Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
#110I have two that I keep coming back to and function as the ying and yang in my mental model. * Industrial Society and Its Future by Ted Kaczynski. The first half I reread often because it is a short critique of technology/technique and the effect that it has on our life. Though not original, it touches on this feeling that we are enslaved to our tools. It also reminds me that "no, i'm not crazy" this world is totally…
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