Regarding grief and physical recovery from something like surgery, we talk about a corkscrew rather than linear progression. There is movement and change, but movement in different directions and at different speeds depending on the day. With career and family life, perhaps the thing we circle back around to - sometimes closer, sometimes further - are things like our values and true nature/self.
Mmm. I love that. And I think there would be changes in how we use language, going from linear to corkscrew. Instead of "along" it's more like "around". Instead of "towards", which connotes an external destination, it's more like "within", an internal focus.
I wonder where else a circular/spiral analogy is used to illustrate progress.
And how can we teach this conceptualization of time to our kids so that it's engrained in their psyche? I sometimes worry that the computer itself really prohibits non-linear thinking... and that our children are even more limited in exploring beyond it from a much earlier age. A linear, directional logic is built into everything in our consumption of technology. When my 8yo wants to create anything, she now reaches for her computer and she is already limiting her creative expression by the applications she knows how to use...
I think the linear trap is a subset of growth/productivity culture, which we're starting to see unravel a little post-pandemic in a really exciting way. If you are always trying to be more efficient and optimizing, it begs the question, what are you doing with all this extra time you're saving? If the answer is just "more of the same" then at some point it burns you out. If you are making time and allowing yourself to venture sideways into new things, then that is a loophole out of the linear progression trap and makes us realize there's a whole world out there.
I've heard people say especially on the career front "career growth is not a ladder, it's a jungle gym". More and more I'm seeing examples of people taking nonlinear paths and it makes my heart very happy - my hope is that my son will have lots of examples for nonlinear growth paths that he can tap into, and not pressure himself so much into constant growth culture the way I did.
Anyway, this is an old post but I just found your newsletter and started subscribing - thank you for sharing your thoughts! I look forward to reading them often.
Regarding grief and physical recovery from something like surgery, we talk about a corkscrew rather than linear progression. There is movement and change, but movement in different directions and at different speeds depending on the day. With career and family life, perhaps the thing we circle back around to - sometimes closer, sometimes further - are things like our values and true nature/self.
Mmm. I love that. And I think there would be changes in how we use language, going from linear to corkscrew. Instead of "along" it's more like "around". Instead of "towards", which connotes an external destination, it's more like "within", an internal focus.
I wonder where else a circular/spiral analogy is used to illustrate progress.
And how can we teach this conceptualization of time to our kids so that it's engrained in their psyche? I sometimes worry that the computer itself really prohibits non-linear thinking... and that our children are even more limited in exploring beyond it from a much earlier age. A linear, directional logic is built into everything in our consumption of technology. When my 8yo wants to create anything, she now reaches for her computer and she is already limiting her creative expression by the applications she knows how to use...
Totally agree. Change - and progress - are spirals.
I like that a lot. Do you see spirals in your life/work?
I think the linear trap is a subset of growth/productivity culture, which we're starting to see unravel a little post-pandemic in a really exciting way. If you are always trying to be more efficient and optimizing, it begs the question, what are you doing with all this extra time you're saving? If the answer is just "more of the same" then at some point it burns you out. If you are making time and allowing yourself to venture sideways into new things, then that is a loophole out of the linear progression trap and makes us realize there's a whole world out there.
I've heard people say especially on the career front "career growth is not a ladder, it's a jungle gym". More and more I'm seeing examples of people taking nonlinear paths and it makes my heart very happy - my hope is that my son will have lots of examples for nonlinear growth paths that he can tap into, and not pressure himself so much into constant growth culture the way I did.
Anyway, this is an old post but I just found your newsletter and started subscribing - thank you for sharing your thoughts! I look forward to reading them often.