Every day on my run along the lakeshore path, I pass a bench. It’s dedicated to a 16 year old kid who died four years ago from a drug overdose in a basement three blocks down. There’s a plaque and a photo of him, smiling wide. In the warm months, fresh-cut flowers lay on the bench. Yesterday, there was a big Christmas bow with a sparkling red ribbon wrapped around its white legs and arms, evenly spaced, like candy cane.
Dec 23, 2023·edited Dec 23, 2023Liked by Tommy Dixon
Great seeing the evolution of this piece Tommy!
I'm also 23 and have run into similar lessons as you listed.
One lesson I'd like to add to your post is that once you start writing regularly, you start seeing stories in life regardless of how separate they are in space and time. (Wrote an essay on this perspective here: https://themohammadkhan.substack.com/p/life-through-a-storytelling-lens)
When I started my writing journey in 2020 through weekly fiction writing, I saw stories everywhere and in everything. The horrifically mundane moments in life -- like sitting in traffic -- became opportunities to tap into the invisible web of stories interweaving our lives and being aware of the most essential choice in life: that we have the ability to choose what we think about and choose what we focus on.
Stuck in rush hour traffic can be a momentary glimpse into hell or it can be a gift of stillness making us aware of how fast we've been moving and how much we'd like to slow down and enjoy our time here.
Tommy, your insights are remarkable for a human of any age and all the moreso for a 23 year old. Thank you for writing them down and sharing. Was appreciating this quote yesterday from Mary Oliver: "This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
A most sincere and heartfelt essay you've written (once again) Tommy!!! Immense appreciation for sharing so much about yourself through these specific life lessons uncovered this year. Thank you for your reflections and transparency. I am grateful! I learned a few vital traits distinct to you! You've provided readers with a looking glass into your soul which, in turn, will provoke their own self reflections. Allowing for personal growth is most worthwhile! A few which struck me most...paying attention...keeping your soul old...you're far more creative...being honest about your own darkness...the only things worth hiding...teach the people in my life how to interact with me...carrying pieces of all whom we have loved...looking for feelings of home...living with slowness...
Mind you, ALL the revelations you took the time to share here are provoking, yet unique to you!!! Most of all, thank you for your openness and honesty! Love you lots Tommy!!!
I really enjoyed this, Tommy, and the format was great. I also appreciated you grouping the lessons together — especially the well-placed alliteration one. (I have an affinity for alliteration too.)
This one stands out: “I will leave a legacy - it won’t be a statue but it will be silent - unspoken and embodied and eternal, like a ripple across a pond”
To live life optimizing for material success and a stone-etched legacy is to miss so much of what it means to live. I share this perspective and see it as a mark of harmony, among something like stillness and ambition. There’s a way to strive for a far-off goal with effort and intent without that pursuit draining you of life.
Great work pal, love the opening story you added here. A beautifully written prelude. Lovely distillation of what you learned, or at least what you learned that was on your mind when you wrote this... I’m sure the subconscious list is 1,000x longer.
Your writing always offers a great way to start my Saturday so thanks for sharing :)
One more I would add to the list: If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.
Tommy, a wonderful way to start my Saturday morning. I’m twice your age and wish I had 1/2 as much wisdom as you do. Thank you for sharing and please offer us more and more from time to time. I couldn’t help but think this piece is the poster child for your commitment to journaling. It inspires me.
An exceptional collection of provocative glimpses Tommy. Each of these are like a peep-hole into profundity. Micro-meditations on being a human. It's probably annoying as hell to have old people like me going on about how "you're so wise for a 23 year old!" but seriously, what the heck? If it came out that you had secretly hired a staff of septuagenarian monks to produce a raft of insights you could curate from to make this list, that would logically follow for me. It's been a pleasure walking the path of "fathomless mystery" with you this year. No doubt the next year will evade our understanding with just as much authority.
Identifying important lessons you have had throughout your life is a complicated exercise. Identifying them, putting them into words and sharing them is awesome. Congratulations Tommy, this essay is inspiring and beautiful.
Happy belated birthday. I love Noah Kahan so fuckin much too.
Tommy! Thank you for sharing. It inspired me a lot. This is a note from China. There is some vocabulary I can’t understand.The translating app helps me a lot. When I read all of those, I'm so happy.
look forward to our next sharing. (Maybe some grammar was wrong,please don’t laugh at me, haha. I just plan to learn my second language.)
Happy belated birthday, Tommy!! I hope you had a really wonderful day.
I can’t imagine how much time, honesty, and stillness it took to identify and put digestible words to these very very complex ideas/truths. Thank you for sharing :)
Great seeing the evolution of this piece Tommy!
I'm also 23 and have run into similar lessons as you listed.
One lesson I'd like to add to your post is that once you start writing regularly, you start seeing stories in life regardless of how separate they are in space and time. (Wrote an essay on this perspective here: https://themohammadkhan.substack.com/p/life-through-a-storytelling-lens)
When I started my writing journey in 2020 through weekly fiction writing, I saw stories everywhere and in everything. The horrifically mundane moments in life -- like sitting in traffic -- became opportunities to tap into the invisible web of stories interweaving our lives and being aware of the most essential choice in life: that we have the ability to choose what we think about and choose what we focus on.
Stuck in rush hour traffic can be a momentary glimpse into hell or it can be a gift of stillness making us aware of how fast we've been moving and how much we'd like to slow down and enjoy our time here.
Tommy, your insights are remarkable for a human of any age and all the moreso for a 23 year old. Thank you for writing them down and sharing. Was appreciating this quote yesterday from Mary Oliver: "This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
A most sincere and heartfelt essay you've written (once again) Tommy!!! Immense appreciation for sharing so much about yourself through these specific life lessons uncovered this year. Thank you for your reflections and transparency. I am grateful! I learned a few vital traits distinct to you! You've provided readers with a looking glass into your soul which, in turn, will provoke their own self reflections. Allowing for personal growth is most worthwhile! A few which struck me most...paying attention...keeping your soul old...you're far more creative...being honest about your own darkness...the only things worth hiding...teach the people in my life how to interact with me...carrying pieces of all whom we have loved...looking for feelings of home...living with slowness...
Mind you, ALL the revelations you took the time to share here are provoking, yet unique to you!!! Most of all, thank you for your openness and honesty! Love you lots Tommy!!!
I really enjoyed this, Tommy, and the format was great. I also appreciated you grouping the lessons together — especially the well-placed alliteration one. (I have an affinity for alliteration too.)
This one stands out: “I will leave a legacy - it won’t be a statue but it will be silent - unspoken and embodied and eternal, like a ripple across a pond”
To live life optimizing for material success and a stone-etched legacy is to miss so much of what it means to live. I share this perspective and see it as a mark of harmony, among something like stillness and ambition. There’s a way to strive for a far-off goal with effort and intent without that pursuit draining you of life.
Great work pal, love the opening story you added here. A beautifully written prelude. Lovely distillation of what you learned, or at least what you learned that was on your mind when you wrote this... I’m sure the subconscious list is 1,000x longer.
Your writing always offers a great way to start my Saturday so thanks for sharing :)
One more I would add to the list: If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.
Tommy, a wonderful way to start my Saturday morning. I’m twice your age and wish I had 1/2 as much wisdom as you do. Thank you for sharing and please offer us more and more from time to time. I couldn’t help but think this piece is the poster child for your commitment to journaling. It inspires me.
An exceptional collection of provocative glimpses Tommy. Each of these are like a peep-hole into profundity. Micro-meditations on being a human. It's probably annoying as hell to have old people like me going on about how "you're so wise for a 23 year old!" but seriously, what the heck? If it came out that you had secretly hired a staff of septuagenarian monks to produce a raft of insights you could curate from to make this list, that would logically follow for me. It's been a pleasure walking the path of "fathomless mystery" with you this year. No doubt the next year will evade our understanding with just as much authority.
Great read, I’m 23 too and the way you articulate things is so great. Keep it up!
Happy belated 23 going on 82!
Wise insights. Especially when it comes to stillness, acceptance, and gratitude. You're starting another year off with a bang. Happy belated!
Identifying important lessons you have had throughout your life is a complicated exercise. Identifying them, putting them into words and sharing them is awesome. Congratulations Tommy, this essay is inspiring and beautiful.
Happy belated birthday. I love Noah Kahan so fuckin much too.
Happy Birthday. I really enjoyed this essay.
Happy (belated?) birthday Tommy! This was such a delight to read :)
+1 on your point about AI
Tommy! Thank you for sharing. It inspired me a lot. This is a note from China. There is some vocabulary I can’t understand.The translating app helps me a lot. When I read all of those, I'm so happy.
look forward to our next sharing. (Maybe some grammar was wrong,please don’t laugh at me, haha. I just plan to learn my second language.)
Happy belated birthday, Tommy!! I hope you had a really wonderful day.
I can’t imagine how much time, honesty, and stillness it took to identify and put digestible words to these very very complex ideas/truths. Thank you for sharing :)
Too many gems to count and too much reflection to comment on for my tired mom brain at the moment but this was WONDERFUL!
“I love Noah Kahan so fuckin much and you do too” laughed so hard. You’re exactly right