“Exploring life through fiction, together.”

[Welcome to the party issue! Not only is this the 80th newsletter, it’s also it’s 2nd birthday. Thank you for joining me on this adventure. It truly wouldn’t be the same without you. 

Would you be willing to share the celebration with a friend? Forward them this email or direct them here.]

As a teenager, I was certain the world at large was wrong. Ok, lots of my friends thought this too, but they’d been drinking the kool aid and were just rebelling instinctively. I’d been largely cut out of society for years due to illness, so when I came back I was sure I could see through the bullshit and find The Truth.

So I scorned, and I judged, and I didn’t understand why so many people willingly went through the same few motions.

And I gloated for my perspicacity, my judgement, my lack of attachment to ‘societal pressures’.

Fiction Bite - See you tomorrow?

Every day was the same. Lumps of metal went up, then down, then up, then down. Between sets, they’d slump on the worn leather seats. Sometimes they’d grunt.

Back to lifting. Rest. Lift. Rest. Over and over until they staggered towards the showers.

They’d reconvene in the foyer, now striding over smooth marble in sharp suits.

“See you tomorrow?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Always the half get out. But it didn’t matter. Maybe it was the metal, pulling them in. Or the smell of stale sweat. It wasn’t likely to be the conversation.

Quote of the Week



Sheeple by XKCD

Book of the month

All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman

Final Words

I often want to go back to that certainty. The older I get, the more complicated everything becomes. And the further I find myself in the jungle of ‘the normal path’, a place I used to be so certain I’d never tread.

I’m in so deep, I wouldn’t know how to cut myself out. Or who I’d be if I broke free.

Do I try to escape to make my younger self proud? Or do I acknowledge the experience and life that has led me here as worth the entangling? And can I keep the experience while detangling myself?

What would your younger self think of who you’ve become? What would life look like if you’d never strayed from their path? Would you be willing to hit reply? It’d make my day to hear from you.

With Love,

Josiah



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