I love my friends. And I know they care about me. But right now I have some things coming into focus with a clarity that demands action.
I'm spending basically every non-work hour exploring those things. I'm staying up too late. I'm getting up too early. I know I can't keep up the pace, but at the moment, the exploration is exhilarating. Sleep seems like an afterthought. I'm chasing things because they're interesting and because they feel important. And it feels like something I'm good at - like I've leveled up and unlocked a new mode that lets me do all the things I've enjoyed in bits and pieces, all at once, for a united purpose.
So it's hard when friends see me so excited, but the response is to throw buckets of cold water. "Dose of reality" they say. "What makes you think other people with more resources and a head start aren't already working on these things?"
I'm sure they are. But I also think that my take matters, too.
I have no idea what, if anything, will come of it. But that's not the important part. The important part is doing something I'm excited about because I'm excited about it, and because I think it matters.
Mostly sharing this to remind me it's ok to calibrate my risk tolerance and priorities differently from my friends. And maybe someone else needs to hear this right now, too.