Life – HELLO, I'M SETH WERKHEISER

NOT WHY BUT WHAT?

Great reflection from Devon Yanko:

I have been asking myself the wrong question: Why? Why was this the wrong question for me? Because you don’t need to make meaning out of every feeling. I have become so accustomed to working on myself that self-interrogation has become second nature. And it is not always the right tool. Introspecting on every single thing does not in fact create more insight. I kept trying to fix the past through understanding it and ensure that I would be safe in the future. But it doesn’t work that way. Making meaning doesn’t inoculate you against future failures.

The better question to ask myself is: What? What am I feeling? What do I need right now? What am I excited about? What do I want to do? If I follow those questions with a Why? I feel immediately defensive and shutdown. I can feel my chest tighten. I have spent my life justifying and explaining myself, and I have worked so hard to not feel like I have to. I have worked so hard to trust myself and my deep inner knowing. I have asked enough “why” in therapy and self-work that it is no longer the right question for me.

That part, “you don’t need to make meaning out of every feeling.”

I actually heard Alex Hormozi talk about that, too. Fuck the feeling, it is what it is, sort of onto the next.

Okay, maybe I’m paraphrasing and off topic, but I like where Devon takes it.

A GOOD TIRED

I’ve been on a lot of Zoom calls this week with my Escape Pod offering via Social Media Escape Club.

I remember being exhausted from scrolling through multiple social media channels everyday. Twitter. Instagram. LinkedIn. Back to Twitter. Over and over, throughout the day.

I would spend hours every day posting, replying, sharing, DMing, ping ping ping. All day long.

Now I spend hours every week with people who are engaged, filled with the energy of making good work.

CHEAP SHIRTS

Like most people, I’ve got a lot of shirts. Many fit better than others. Different cuts. Different weights.

I’ve since been checking out the tags of the shirts I like and ordering blanks from Blank Shirts.

I just ordered three shirts that cost me less than $15 (before shipping). I bought five last year (including a long sleeve) and with shipping it wasn’t even $50.

I still love my logo “graphic tees,” and the companies and bands that I support with my purchase. But sometimes I want to go outside without making any statement, or repping any brand.

START IT YOURSELF

“When artists stop waiting to be chosen, whole new economies open up. The most compelling models today come from artists who said: “I’ll start it myself.”

Shagun Singh

ENJOY THE BARRYVILLE CAMEL

Noah Kalina investigated the Barryville Camel for Radio Catskill.

“The current Congress just slashed $170K from (the Radio Catskill) budget, so your support will help fill in the gap. These small-town stations are vital to the local community and culture.”

Read so much more (and watch Noah’s excellent video) here.

WE’RE HERE THEN WE’RE GONE

From Jacob Bannon of Converge, on the passing of Ozzy Osbourne.

The vulnerability and aesthetic of of Ozzy’s early solo recordings has always been a high watermark. As a latchkey kid in the ’80s, I listened to those first albums obsessively. They were a friend when I needed one—and will continue to be until my own time comes.

CBS ENDS THE LATE SHOW

Update 7/23/2025: Oh, damn. I didn’t realize the shitty backstory to all of this.

CBS is ending The Late Show, hosted by Stephen Colbert. Not replacing Colbert, but ending the show.

In this clip, Colbert mentions how 200 people work on the show. TWO HUNDRED.

I had to look it up, but The Late Show started in 1993 with David Letterman.

I can only imagine that it costs a lot of money to run a show like that in Manhattan, week in and week out.

THERE’S ANOTHER WAY

“But what if there’s another way? We’re clearly starving for something different online. A 19-minute ambient song with a static image of a whale has 3.1M views on YouTube – people choosing to spend nearly 20 minutes with literally nothing happening while the rest of the platform optimises for peak stimulation. This is evidence of a deep hunger for ‘digital quiet’. Online spaces that offer contemplation instead of consumption.”

This from “The Restaurant with No Music” by Simon James French.

He also linked to this Google Doc called ‘Ambient-ish music to do work to,’ with all sorts of links to playlists and albums and.. Plants.fm??

That’s right – there’s a device you can buy called Plant Wave.

“PlantWave measures biological changes within plants, graphs them as a wave and translates the wave into pitch.

With PlantWave, every single note you hear is a real-time expression of a shift in a plant. The more active a plant is at any particular moment, the more notes you’ll hear. When a plant is less active, it will often drone or even stop producing notes.”

I literally just want to hook one of these up to a plant next to a creek, set up my camera, and take a nap for an hour.

We had a thunderstorm and then the temp dropped 20 degrees. We could finally turn off the AC units and open the windows. Breath the slightly less hot air. We got a nice sunset, too. Some nice clouds out there, being soft and calm.

BEEPING

It’s been going on for a few nights. Then into the days. An alarm nearby, but I could never find out where it was coming from. When I’d go outside, it would stop. When I’d come back home, I’d hear it again.

I started to wonder if the beeping was coming from inside my place. There’s a blocked off hallway in part of our apartment. But nope, it was definitely coming from outside.

Today I saw a firetruck out in front of a building across the street. Firemen at the door, in and out. Seems about right that they’d be the ones to check it out.

Now the beeping is done and I’m going to sleep better tonight.

Category: Life