What if none of it works: doing the work anyway and why not knowing might be the whole point.
010 | Hue's Cues: your weekly dose of inspiration and insights for your brain, mind, body, and soul.
What if none of it works?
It’s a question I’ve been sitting with lately. Rather uncomfortably, in quiet contemplation; as we collectively hold on to the edge of our seats witnessing the world.
What if every little self-improvement habit, every intentional rewiring, and choice made in the name of health and longevity, amounts to absolutely nothing? The thought has entertained me a few times, especially if we aren’t quite sure what will become of the world.
The sobering truth: I don’t actually know if any of it is working. Neither can I promise you anything; the future is simply uncertain.
I’ve been told strength training will protect my bone density and preserve my skin’s elasticity, though I guess I won’t have much evidence of either until I’m in my 40s or 70s. With Asian skin though, the latter may only show its wear in my 80s (lucky me!)
As for my bones, I will perhaps only know if it’s strength is somehow challenged, but hopefully never from a tragic fall to the hips, as a broken hip is one of the leading causes of rapid decline in old age. I’ve also read high-intensity training is great for preserving cardiovascular health, but what do I know about how I’ll feel later in life?
My point is we often do things in the present that’s meant to guarantee something in our future, but I can only know how I feel, today. Not in some distant, measurable future, but right now, in the body I am living in. How I think I’ll feel in the future, committing to my rituals, is simply hope.
I keep tweaking and progressing, some days even accepting my regressions (I am human after all), because certainty of the results was never the point, it was always in the process and struggles itself where the promise remains.
I’m an independent Southeast Asian creator contemplating creativity, well-being, and what it means to be fully alive.
There’s one form of rest and recovery I give my brain that has, more than anything else, helped me manage dopamine triggers, especially the gravitational pull of my phone: turning off all notifications. My bank app is the only app that’s earned the privilege of interrupting me at will. Everything else I consider as an unnecessary assault on my attention. So rather than passively accepting the intrusion, I’ve made silence the default. I check apps on my terms, not on their. Because why willingly surrender our most precious resource to corporate capitalists whose purpose is to exploit and engineer our attention away from us? Thriving, I keep reminding myself, is a choice.
Training my mind also means learning to let things go. Calendars and scheduling apps may seduce us into believing we have power over the future, but the truth is, nothing beyond what’s happening right now is ever predictable. I could trip and fall; an unexpected war may break out. The certainty of our future was always an illusion, a construct we humans cleverly built for a false sense of order. Certainty was never real. The present is the only thing we can actually know. So friends, my mantra of the moment has been simple: let go. It has done wonders for my mind’s sense of peace, and if this resonates, David R. Hawkins’ Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender is worthy of your attention.
One of the beauties of living in the tropics is the accessibility to delicious, naturally sweet, fresh coconut water. While electrolytes and recovery drinks has become one of the trendiest product categories for fitness, coconut water has been a natural source of electrolytes for generations. It’s one of the ways I nourish my body with the hydration it needs weekly. Mr. Coconut is my go to, but I’ve recently discovered Luckin Coffee’s roasted coconut with coffee combo, and friends, I now understand why this brand has quietly dominated every corner of the city. If you don’t live in Singapore, consider this two terrific free business ideas. You’re welcome.
And if this is your kind of thing, never miss an idea or edition. Join me below, if you haven’t already.
You don’t know what you’re missing until you realize what you’re missing; and as a third culture kid, this hits different. My sense of identity has always been in question, but lately, as I adventure into discovering regional talent, it’s rewarded me with something I didn’t know I needed: consistent, refreshing, genuine soul stimulation. Because I believe the music we’re drawn to is one of the most direct windows into who we are. This week Jo Soegono’s Indonesian Bossa Nova has been what’s soothing me most. It’s a vibe!
Even if you don’t understand the lyrics, friends, I promise you’ll be pleased. Jo Soegono’s sultry melodies and soft voice has been easing all my tensions away.
Sometime the best inspirations are the ones you stumble into. The story of Hiromix, the pioneering teenage Japanese female photographer who captured a cultural shift in 1990s Tokyo is one I hope you’ll enjoy too.
Nourishment doesn’t only always mean food. I’ve discovered over the years that to feed, can also mean to tend to the mind and soul. A more subtle kind of hunger, if you care enough to notice. But a similar deprivation nonetheless if not paid attention to. In times like these, reading Inward by Yung Pueblo is a nice place to sit in.
“It’s the first time in human history, that no body has any ideas what the world would look like in 20 years.” — Yuval Noah Harari
Though as I keep saying: no one has ever actually known how the world will be, as the future is never known. The difference: we were, at the very least, able to make educated guesses that more or less created the illusion of predicting the future. Yet today, those assumptions can stray too far from reality; and the illusion has broken.
But what’s always true is autonomy and agency over the reality you’re accepting.