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Self-employed, self-exhausted

theisolationjournals.substack.com

11–20 of 67 posts

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#11
post #7

So much fluff Thank goodness for LLMs >The author's core message is about breaking free from a lifelong pattern of tying self-worth to constant productivity and output, realizing that true creativity and well-being require intentional rest and "revery" (contemplation/dreaming), rather than relentless striving.

The author is literally an artist though. What you call fluff may be a worthwhile artistic and emotional expression.

If someone stopped at this summary they would have missed out on a nice poem by Emily Dickinson for example. Oh wait, let me summarize it:

> The poem describes how a prairie can be made using clover, a bee, and imagination.

there, that's better. no more fluff.

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#12
post #7

So much fluff Thank goodness for LLMs >The author's core message is about breaking free from a lifelong pattern of tying self-worth to constant productivity and output, realizing that true creativity and well-being require intentional rest and "revery" (contemplation/dreaming), rather than relentless striving.

As a counterpoint, I quite enjoyed the writing style. Not everything has to be summarized. To me, it was more about the human experience.

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#13
post #11
post #7

So much fluff Thank goodness for LLMs >The author's core message is about breaking free from a lifelong pattern of tying self-worth to constant productivity and output, realizing that true creativity and well-being require intentional rest and "revery" (contemplation/dreaming), rather than relentless striving.

The author is literally an artist though. What you call fluff may be a worthwhile artistic and emotional expression. If someone stopped at this summary they would have missed out on a nice poem by Emily Dickinson for example. Oh wait, let me summarize it: > The poem describes how a prairie can be made using clover, a bee, and imagination. there, that's better. no more fluff.

Oh, this is lovely! It's rare that I see such a clear cut argument for how _not_ to use llms.

People do argue for and against, but usually less effectively than what you did here. Kudos to clarity!

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#15
post #7

So much fluff Thank goodness for LLMs >The author's core message is about breaking free from a lifelong pattern of tying self-worth to constant productivity and output, realizing that true creativity and well-being require intentional rest and "revery" (contemplation/dreaming), rather than relentless striving.

https://maalvika.substack.com/p/compression-culture-is-makin...

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#16
post #4

I live in Sweden where taking 5 weeks off in the summer is the rule. Never got used to it, I take just 2 or 3 and leave the rest of mu vacations for the winter… but I almost never take the full 5 weeks and end up accumulating it over the years. I think I have over 12 weeks pending even after already having taken 3 weeks in July. I just get too bored and start coding anyway, so why not just work and get paid for doing…

Save it up for when you have kids ;)

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#17
post #4

I live in Sweden where taking 5 weeks off in the summer is the rule. Never got used to it, I take just 2 or 3 and leave the rest of mu vacations for the winter… but I almost never take the full 5 weeks and end up accumulating it over the years. I think I have over 12 weeks pending even after already having taken 3 weeks in July. I just get too bored and start coding anyway, so why not just work and get paid for doing…

From the Netherlands and not having had to work since I sold my first company at 25 (over 25 years ago), I cannot do more than a week vacation before getting annoyed and bored. I like building stuff: programming, welding, soldering, guitar playing, cooking. But I have no patience for doing one thing: normally I code myself and vibe with multiple claude codes on the boil, my electric guitar is on my lap, there is either YouTube presentations from meetups/events or science podcasts on in the background and then there is cooking and soldering when I happen to get up from the desk. Or I go for a run or meet up with friends. When my friends tell me about their vacation, I fall asleep listening to it, let alone having to live through it. It is a Me thing and nothing wrong with them or me and luckily my wife is even worse, so we work almost nonstop generally. Never makes us exhausted though; quite the opposite.

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#18

The amount of em—dashes in there exhausted me lol

We used to infer one’s mind from their writing. Nowadays? I’m surprised people are too lazy to even remove them dashes. Well, in fact it might actually be a good thing for one can spot when something was AI generated much easier. I feel like original writing is pretty much dead these days. We’re all best selling authors now.

This reads like original writing to me. Too creative for LLMs, at least based on my experience.

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#19
post #7

So much fluff Thank goodness for LLMs >The author's core message is about breaking free from a lifelong pattern of tying self-worth to constant productivity and output, realizing that true creativity and well-being require intentional rest and "revery" (contemplation/dreaming), rather than relentless striving.

You're born, you live, you die. There, I have freed you from the rest of this mortal coil.

Re: Self-employed, self-exhausted

#20

The amount of em—dashes in there exhausted me lol

I have started using —ahem— em dashes more regularly so people think I am as smart —well clever at least— as AI.

It's not just about using well placed em dashes — it's about creating a sense of awe and enlightenment.
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