Six of Cups

You keep comparing this job to a better time. The better time has been edited. It had the same Tuesday afternoons.

What did the old job have that you have stopped trying to build here?

Build one small version of it here this week, instead of missing it.

You spend to recreate a feeling from before. The feeling was never in the thing you are buying.

What are you buying back?

Skip it this week and notice what the wanting is actually about.

You are in love with how this used to be, or with someone from before. The memory has had all the boring days removed.

What did the old version of this actually cost you at the time?

Write down one honest hard thing from then. Keep it next to the memory.

You are choosing what feels like home. Some of that is wisdom. Some of it is choosing what you have already survived.

Are you picking this because it is right, or because it is familiar?

Ask one person who knew you then what they think, and listen for the difference.

You have been visiting the past a lot. It is warm there, and nothing changes. That is the point, and also the problem.

What are you avoiding now by remembering then?

Do one thing today that the younger you would have been surprised to see.

You keep making the thing you used to make. It worked once and it is comfortable. The audience for it has aged with you.

What would you make now if you were not honouring what you made then?

Make something this week that owes nothing to the early work.