Greetings, readers of Pragmatic Curiosity.
Thank you for opening this newsletter, sharing it with your friends and engaging with it through restacks and likes. This truly goes a long way towards helping the publication.
Summary
⛔🙅 Nobody cares: you should follow your own curiosity, disregard influences and hold onto those who truly care.
Stay humble
Nobody cares.
That’s what I used to tell myself. That time I finished my master’s, that time I ran my first half-marathon, when I first benched 2 plates. It’s probably what I’ll tell myself when I run my first marathon, get promoted or whatever comes next. I know it’s what I’ll tell myself if this Substack ever blows up.
Nobody cares.
I can be excited. I can be proud. But after it all, I am just me.
Stay yourself
When I was diagnosed at 15, I vowed to keep it a secret as I didn’t want anyone to view or judge me differently. Or was I afraid that nobody would care? And why should they?
Now, I know. Nobody cared, and nobody would care. But I didn’t have the courage to be disliked.
Whether or not it’s a secret, I’m still just me. I have the same weaknesses and act the same. The ways in which I’ve changed are the same as everyone else. We get older, we outgrow things, we get more patient, we find new interests.
All the dumb things you like, you’ve done, or have yet to do. Let it out. Nobody will care or remember, except you. All the things I’ve botched, the failed experiments, the dumb shit I’ve said, hell, even that time I was 15, got drunk for the first time ever and threw up on a girl’s shoe in front of everyone (well, she and I cared and I, at least, still do. I’m sorry!).
And the things we do remember become fun stories.
Stay private
Growing up as social media evolved left me flabbergasted. I hated it. Everyone I knew was on Facebook, playing trash games in class, sharing relationship statuses, posting weird messages, dumb diatribes or filtered selfies. I didn’t want part in any of it, mostly because I was afraid that
nobody cared.
People started sharing EVERYTHING on social media. Videos of concerts lit up by an unending supply of phones, recording everything to catalogue in a folder that is never to be opened again.
Girlfriends forcing boyfriends to become cameramen on their get-away trip, never really seeing anything except the grimaces of passersby, strutting around, pretending to push the leaning tower of Pisa with one hand, lifted leg, other hand making a peace-sign, lips pursed — the 1 photo out of 85 that passes the quality gate proudly displays the unique pose, as that’s what everyone else did.
The cool guys, the alphas, the hustlers, the endless rants, blaming anyone and everything, as long as they don’t need to look in the mirror that reflects their haggard visages. Would it even still reflect them? Would they dare to look?
Was anyone ever supposed to be interested?
Stay independent
Live your life. Live the life you want, the life you can, a life for yourself. Be curious. Ask questions. Learn something. Go to the gym. Run. Stay healthy. Be creative. Build. Try. Fail.
Live aware that both you and what you know has an expiration date. That nobody thinks about you — they think about themselves. Don’t let influences sway you from what truly interests you. Disregard what you “should” do and what people say, and do what you say you should.
I used to be afraid to express myself, go to the gym or ask questions. It wasn’t quite clear to me just yet that
nobody cared.
Stay connected
But does any of it matter? Be a fucking idiot for all I care (or don’t care). Dig yourself into a hole. Buy things you can’t afford. Gamble. Get addicted. Let your health deteriorate. Give up.
Hit rock-bottom.
And as you look up from the pits of despair, at the end of the darkness, that’s when you’ll finally notice what matters. What you can use as fuel.
The faces.
The outstretched hands.
The ones that care, truly care. And the rest — well,
nobody cares.
5 lessons
Be proud, but stay humble
Be unapologetically yourself and don’t be ashamed
Your life is yours and not something to parade for others
Be an independent self-learner
You’re not alone — stay connected with those who truly care when everything blows up, and don’t ever let them go
It’s a concept most of us are slow to grasp. We seem irrationally convinced we are special, that we matter, but we don’t.
It’s a freeing thought.
I hope you avoid the pits Azark. I’ve found myself in one, and it’s rough.
I really liked this article Rasmus.
It's easy to think that the world revolves around us when it really doesn't.
Nobody cares.