Feeling Successful

 Yesterday, Thursday, I went for a 15 mile jog in the forest. It was lovely to leisurely consume miles. The leaves are down. The weather is coolish trending towards cold. 

I've been listening to a good deal to Jordan Peterson on YouTube. Jordan is a psychologist and university professor. He is most well known for his book 12 Rules for Life. I've been fascinated by his Biblical analysis of Genesis. In passing, he talks about Friedrich Nietzsche. I heard about Nietzche's Beyond Good and Evil. I just got the book and started reading it. Some philosophers are too difficult for me. Like, I gave up on Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness. Nietzche seems readable. 

Jordan Peterson is an intellectual and highly educated. He is a very impressive thinker. He advocates making the best of your life. He explains why you'll never get it done, the challenge of being human, and having consciousness. He explains why you are not happy unless you are expanding. David Goggins is an athlete who is extremely different than Jordan Peterson, yet, he advocates the same thing. Do the most with your life. As I have moved into being a college student, I've been feeling like I actually am making the most of my life. I have the brains to learn to understand complicated issues and write in-depth. I get excited about it. 

On Tuesday, a magnificent thing happened. I accidentally found out about a neuroscience course from MIT which I could take online. I was thrilled. I am a serious student. I get excited about learning. I am hoping that I can become a student of philosophy in the future, so taking an extension course should help me get started. 

Studying and thinking and writing are my swim lane. When I stay focused on staying in my lane, my life proceeds successfully and meaningfully. I feel great. When I get out of my lane, like into politics, for instance, I don't feel so good. Being an athlete along with being a scholar is included in my swim lane. I feel great after 30 minutes of weight lifting and 3 hours of running. 

I won't be signing up for any more virtual races this winter. It is too cold to spend 6 hours jogging 26 miles outside. My racing season will finish up with two more real races in the Dallas area. 

My life has changed since I quit my job. I have a lot of school work to do. I get a lot of exercise, but I hardly interact with any people. I see other people face to face two or three times a week. The pandemic has been good to me in many ways, but I hadn't had to actually face isolation as long as I was working. Now, I have to face it. I have a friend who is my age. She got COVID but didn't suffer very much. I'm sort of jealous about that because she doesn't have to worry about getting it now. However, I can't just go out and get sick. I don't know what my body would do. So I accept isolation. A reason to be careful is that I am driving a relative who is 83 years old. I intend to be healthy when she gets in my car. 

Writers and thinkers through the ages have been somewhat solitary in order to think deeply. When I was in monastic life, I learned about desert solitaries and anchoress'. I have been long fascinated with the hermit lifestyle. On the one hand, I am living in a way that fascinates me. On the other hand, my solitude is imposed by the pandemic. 

The world is changing. Chaos brews. I watch and think and run marathons.