A Musing

I’ve entered into my third decade, and while the day itself might not be so momentous, I have a list of things I hope to achieve in the next 10 years, but first I have a lot to look back on from my second, including (in no particular order): •Finishing middle school •Buying my first, now-iconic, bowtie •Getting my first phone •Working my first job •Finishing high school •Starting college/university •Moving abroad •Traveling to Scotland, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Tanzania, Iceland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, Austria, and Slovakia for the first time each. •Buying my first album •Studying Spanish, Latin, and German in school, as well as a few others privately •Writing fiction •Developing my love of WWI history •Developing an invented language •Having my first kiss •Having a romantic relationship for over a year •Keeping kosher, loosely •Reading philosophy and theology •Arranging some 20 talks for my Jewish Society •Leading 2 Pesach Seders •Becoming Orthodox, shomer Sh...

For 3 weeks a summer, Jews are instructed to reduce joy in their lives. What I realized though, is that unless I couped myself in my room with nothing to do, I will always have joy in my life; I love talking to people, and going on walks, or visiting museums, or going to services etc. etc.. Even though I tried to adapt this to modern living by avoiding things they wouldn’t have had 2,000 years ago, rather than reduce the amount of joy in my life overall, I found consciously t rying to reduce this made me realize that joy always find a way back in. I definitely wasn't perfect, like eating candy or going to a movie (a tragedy, tbf). In my life I have been very lucky, but by trying to fight happiness, I focused on it so much that I found it to be a pervasive pest: the best I could ask for. I love my life. I couldn’t have always said that. But if I’ve learned anything now, or in the last few years, it’s that so long as you believe the world is fundamentally a good place, you will find ...