some field notes from 2024

a compendium of random thoughts and fav quotes

fLOVERS by @perleverroterie

1. Unlimited resources are overrated. Truly novel things rarely need an abundance of money. If that were so, billionaires would have a monopoly on inventing new things, and they don’t. Breakthroughs can’t be bought. Instead, passion, persistence, belief, and ingenuity are required to invent new things, qualities the less funded and young often have in abundance.

2. I wonder what my future husband is doing right now. It’s crazy to me that they’re a real person with a life, and they’re not going to just exist from the moment I meet them, lol.

3. Assume no one knows what they’re doing and gauge everything yourself. Because this is true for more than you think.

4. At its core, adulting is just becoming a child again. Seeing beauty in the little things, getting excited about life, giving people hugs, letting yourself feel all emotions without holding back, being happy because of cookies and legos, playing in the park - very literally, eating ice cream for breakfast, pillow forts. I would be more excited than my kid to go to Disney World.

5. Be bored.

6. Highly recommend this video on how to make your upcoming year your best one yet.

7. My best $40 investment this year

8. Would you date you? Would you be friends with you?

9. Compliment people more. It makes everyone happier.

10. Send more thank you letters/personalized gifts. Little things go a long way.

11. Physically, we know what muscle soreness (growing pains) feels like, but there’s also its emotional and mental counterparts — where in life are you experiencing growing pains, and have you mistaken them for other negative emotions?

12. There's so much love in this world. What makes you think you don't deserve it?

13. Don’t feel qualified? Nobody does. You can only be qualified to do that which you have already accomplished or trained for. Anything new is accomplished by unqualified people — James Clear

14. Work hard and play so so much harder!!!

15. Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known — Carl Sagan

16. மாற்றங்களே வினா, மாற்றங்களே விடை. Change is the question, and change is the answer — Anthaathi

17. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow — Robert Pirsig

18. Everything everyone does is either a call for love or an act of love — Marianna Williamson

19. Picking your neighborhood is more important than picking your city.

20. If we want the rewards of being loved, we have to submit to the mortifying ordeals of being known — Tim Kreider

21. “Cosmically speaking, wood is rarer than diamonds.” — what wood are you overlooking in pursuit of diamonds?

22. Make it exist, and then make it better — Henry Royce

23. Do you really like what you’re building?

24. Learn something you can perform at a talent show.

25. We don’t play enough. Actual genuine physical play.

26. Also, feel in your body more. Fight, dance, rec sports, rollercoasters. It’s hard to dwell in the past or worry about the future mid-chokehold on the mats or when you’re underwater and need to keep up rhythmic breathing.

27. Fall in love with your neighborhood. Reddit is a great place to find secret spots. Followed by aimless exploring.

28. The 75 hard challenge is really onto something.

29. Host the kinds of events you wish you could go to.

30. Amen to this.

31. While trying to befriend strangers — pretend they’re an old friend (internally) and slightly overshare.

32. Working towards goals is great, but paying attention to your internal emotional reactions towards things/situations/work/people + reassessing yourself based on that makes life truly your own—a good, detailed piece on it. It’s genuinely the biggest hack I wish all of us could internalize.

33. Shortcut to making friends who fully align with you requires unapologetic authenticity to the point where you’re likely getting an odd look or two every now and then. 100% worth it.

34. Notice the sparkles on water!

35. Hot pot and matcha are my best culinary discoveries of 2024.

36. Listen to party music while brushing teeth both times.

37. Storygraph helped me get out of a huge reading rut (4 books this year before I got the app, 13 after).

38. Call home more often. Put it on the calendar.

39. Be a closer.

40. Make a lot of mistakes. Just don’t make the same ones.

41. Life gets so much more interesting and entertaining when you stop wearing airpods all the time.

42. When are you using music to escape your thoughts/as a pointless filler?

43. Not knowing isn’t an obstacle; it is the way.

44. Everything is an adventure. Plot, scheme, freestyle, dress up, play theme songs, use fancy accents.