Hey friends 👋🏽,

This is the 13th issue of Thought Caffeine, a weekly newsletter where I share my favourite discoveries during the week. I apologise for having skipped last week's issue, but ideas were running dry and I thought I needed a little excursion off work.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you're all spending this joyful season surrounded by loved ones in health and merriment. 🎄

👥 Article: The Fruits of Friendship

This year made me think a lot about friendship and what it means to cultivate solid, lasting friendships. Last week, I stumbled upon one of David Perell’s articles about it in his newsletter. 

I had my own ideas and philosophy about friendship, so I thought it would be nice to knock on a mentor’s door and see what they had to say about it.

“Friendship gives flavor to life. Rather than treating friendship as a nice-to-have luxury, reserved for people who have their lives in perfect order, we should cultivate friendship intentionally and treat it as the necessity it is. We need to be intentional in our pursuit of it, especially as we age.”

I resonated a lot with the ideas in Perell's article. I find his citations fascinating and refreshing, which reinstated my belief in the importance of investing in friendship. I also pondered quite a bit on something he said:

“I take extra care to prioritize extended time with friends. If you want a deep conversation, you need time. Instead of spending two or three hours with somebody, I prefer to spend two or three days with them. More, if possible.”

A fortnight ago, a friend from primary school came to visit me. He was in town for the weekend to accompany his mother’s talk in a conference and was able to escape for a night, together with my girlfriend and I, to a nice beachside villa. I thought maybe the few hours we got to talk and spend time together was enough, but Perell’s prediction proved right. I would’ve much preferred the longer sojourn.

“Choose your friends carefully. You will rise and fall to the level of the company you keep. As a general rule, you should spend time with people who energize you, inspire you, and make you proud to call them a friend.”

🐗 Weganism

I stumbled upon this concept in a Tim Ferriss’s newsletter issue. I couldn’t find additional sources to speak for this new concept, but I found it interesting nonetheless. I quote the piece verbatim below:

Wegan /ˈwēɡən/ noun. Someone who follows a vegan diet, omitting all animal products except for wild-harvested meats. Put another way, a wegan diet is a vegan diet modified to include only wild-harvested meats. This term was coined by Kuʻulani Muise of Maui Nui Venison, as she, her husband Jake, and their three young children all enjoy a “wegan” diet but struggled to find a simple term to encapsulate it. Hence the invention of this word and “weganism.”

I have always wanted to be a vegan, but found the prospect extremely difficult since that meant I had to give meat up completely. Food has been a huge part of my life, and giving up meat would mean giving up part of my culture and tradition. 

So when I heard about weganism, I was intrigued. It would allow me to stay plant-based on most days, but also not feel guilty about the occasional meat fiestas. Though I’m sure wild game is more costly than domesticated meat, I hope the additional dollars could be justified by the feel-good effect of knowing you’re part of a sustainable ecosystem.

⏳ Annual Review

Just like last year, I’m doing an end of year review where I take time to reflect on my accomplishments, discoveries, experiences, and other tidbits throughout the year.

I’m doing mine via Notion, one of my favourite apps for productive note-taking. Feel free to join me and utilise my end of year review template! 

📸 Photos of the Week

I snapped these shots for a restaurant client I've been working with for almost 2 years now. It's good to see that restaurants are starting to see some growth again and it excites me to be part of the journey.

📖 Quote of the Week

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain”

From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Resurfaced via Readwise.

That's all for this week's issue. If you think your friends would enjoy receiving emails like these on the weekly, please share this with them by hitting <Forward> and have them click on the button below to subscribe to Thought Caffeine 🚀

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Hope you have a blessed new year! 🎄

John