My entire life has been based on sweating the details. I’d been a hairdresser, then an auditor, then a writer. And those vocations have been all about that centimetre, that one decimal, that one letter.
So it didn’t come as a surprise that I felt obligated to pursue my hobbies the same way.
That meant sticking to Ryder Carroll’s bullet journal guidelines to a tee. Or picking only one specific word processor to rule them all. Heck, I got into backpacks once because I decided to travel with only one carry-on, no matter the duration or location.
But life is never linear, and the danger of distilling everything to its barest essence is that we end up solving problems that don’t exist.
It’s like that time I got into fountain pens. Suddenly, longhand was a task fit for only one instrument. To hell with gel pens, or pencils, or fineliners. Never mind the fact that I was filling out an immigration card. Or that I was assigned to a rough trip through the forest. When I was into the hobby, it was fountain pens or bust.
Once I got over my elitist tendencies, however, life magically became easier. Because why fret over the pen-ink combo when all I wanted to do was write a grocery list? And why was I spending all my time and money aiming for a grail that didn’t exist?
We’re all different, but if you’re the type who thinks they need rigidity, only to come up with a thousand different ways to be rigid, then perhaps you’re more flexible-prone than you think.
And to you, I say: Learn to let go.
Journal in a notebook, then write your next few entries on your phone. Succumb to your hyper fixation on pencils, then embrace gel pens when you’re ready. Go hard on the weights, then spend months doing nothing but cardio.
Because sometimes we just need to embrace the chaos, so that we can find the stillness within.
Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 
Great insight Stuart!
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Totally on point. Chaos Theory is a wonderful thing. To embrace chaos I look at the trends then do the opposite. Flying with a backpack (Kelty, interframe, blah, blah, blah) is the only thing close to trendy I do. Life is so much more enjoyable.
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like this idea very much.
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On a side note, since you brought it up in your article, here is a list of jobs I’ve held in my 44 years of life, in order of occurrence. Dishwasher/kitchen staff at a summer camp, summer camp counselor, IT consultant, paramedic, firefighter, head medical officer (at a different summer camp), photographer, and writer.
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Fortunately, I find I’m just naturally more flexible as I get older…
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Great reflections Stuart. I can relate with diving into new passions, but I think I’m ok on the rigidity front as I can be flexible enough to adapt and make hobbies my own. I’m still embracing bullet journals, but I wonder how many would recognise my version – the actual bullets didn’t work for me, so I adapted the process
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Ah yes, the stillness within… now where did I see it last?
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I need these one😌☺
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Thanks for this, I want to become a writer of some sort, not all too sure if i have the talent for it, as its just always been a hobby of mine, to create day to day journal entries, that’s when i thought of wordpress, i just don’t even know where to start! Everybody else’s content is so much better than what i could ever produce…..
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Don’t worry about what others write — your writing is your own. And whatever you write will be just fine. Don’t compare yourself to others; all that does is kill your soul. Just do your thing!
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I like that and I’ll try, but, yes, I’m way to OCD…..can I let go?
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