[may 9, 2026] experimental expansion

what happens when you stop being so critical of yourself and instead embrace your natural self like an old friend?

there is a boundary between expanding your mind, life, awareness and habits, and trying, persistently and obsessively, to change the core of yourself.

this boundary is integral. it is absolutely necessary, and must be enforced.

in the sweeping societal movement for self-optimisation, it can be very, very easy to constantly be in a state of criticism towards your life, and by extension, yourself. the traits that make you unique are not just waiting to be repurposed or removed, they are you.

at the risk of sounding like i’m telling you what to do: you have to build a life around yourself, while you cultivate the environment within yourself. the unsavoury alternative is to convince yourself that you need to tear yourself, all your hopes, habits, hobbies, quirks, dreams and longings, apart to create a life worth living and sharing with people. this couldn’t be further from the truth.

at any given moment, there is a foundation within you.

it has been there from the start. if you treat it well, it will stay there until the end. the mission, if you choose to accept it, is to build upon this. to engage in curiosity towards what your life could become, rather than convincing your brain that it is unacceptable and needs a full overhaul, an extraction of everything deemed non productive or odd or cringe or dark, often by a standard that you did not set yourself, but in fact absorbed from the content and media you consume or are exposed to by proxy.

you have skills. talents. interests. indulgences. hobbies. whims. these are not inherently right or wrong, there is no morality to it. only you know how they make you feel, and only you know which ones ebb and flow, which are routine, which you need to encourage more for the betterment of your internal ecosystem.

i invite you today to do an experiment. not a strict goal or routine or optimised lifestyle, but an experiment. you are allowed to fail. you are allowed to have it be temporary. the experiment can be anything, but it has to be about following your curiosity and intuition towards something.

maybe you’ve been wanting to do a more consistent art practice of some sort. can you slot in time every day for a week or two or three to engage in it?

what about a hobby you’ve been wanting to try, but never got around to? can you commit to experimenting with it for a month and seeing the results?

the thing about an experiment is it has an objective. example: “i want to write every day.” it has a duration of time. “i will commit to doing this for 3 weeks.” 3 weeks go by, and then comes what is often the most important part of the process; the reflection at the end, the retrospective and results. “i wasn’t able to manage writing every day, but i did it most days, and i found myself looking forward to writing, and feeling better afterwards. most of the writing wasn’t anything spectacular, but it did leave me with a more clear mind afterwards, and a sense of accomplishment.”

so, if you choose to accept the invitation, what do you want to mess around with? what one thing can you do to add some variety, healthy stimulation, and change of routine to your day-to-day?

from my heart space to yours,

until next time.