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Barry Fralick

Writer exploring culture, technology, life design, and the human experience. Writing at BarryFralick.com

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Sunday Notes 5/12/24

Greetings and Happy Mother's Day. Here are this week's notes. From me: On choosing reactions My writing was plagiarized this week. I couldn't believe it. This has never happened to me before. Another writer stole a summary I had written word for word. At first, I was furious. I thought about calling the guy out on Twitter. I follow him there. I've shared his work here. He has a large following. He is a popular writer and one I respect(ed). I did nothing. The thing is, for all I know, it could...

4 days ago • 1 min read

Hello and welcome to the the magnificent month of May. The trees are coming alive here in Upstate NY, and once again, we are on the cusp of another splendid summer. Here are this week's notes. From me: On wishful anticipation. A melodramatic tweet I wrote on Twitter the other day: There is no precursor to an ideal life. No free trial. It is a perilous mirage. It is happening now. We're living the real thing despite wishful anticipation. Waiting and wanting is an unknowingly slow march through...

11 days ago • 2 min read

Greetings friends. Here are this week's notes. From me: A PSA I'm writing this email, except I'm not writing at all. Instead, I am organizing the refrigerator, wiping down the outside of the stove, and going through the spice cabinet. Writers are notorious for distracting themselves with dumb tasks. My home has never been so clean. Why? Because cleaning's easier than doing the hard thing. Writing, in this case, is the hard thing. But it doesn't feel good. I know this email is more important....

18 days ago • 1 min read

Hello from Upstate, NY. Here are this week's notes. From me: Thoughts on grief, mourning, and shame Grief is the overwhelming feeling that comes with loss. It is something out of our control. A visceral response that only fades with time and mourning. Mourning is the process of dealing with grief. It is the deeply personal and internal comprehension of events. Mourning is the creation of a map that guides us forward. Shame is the concealed element. It hides amongst grief. Thoughts like: 'I...

25 days ago • 1 min read

Greetings all. Here are this week's notes. From me: Breaking good habits I grew up in a small town. I ran a business in a small town. I don't have opinions. If you run a business in a smallish community you train yourself to stay silent. There is no benefit in discussing politics for instance. At best, a few people will agree with you. At worst, you alienate fifty percent of your clientele. Opinions are expensive. I trained myself to keep my mouth shut. A habit that served me well. These days...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read

Greetings friends. Here are this week's notes. From me: A note on notes Many things I share here are meant to be useful not only to you but to me as well. I use this newsletter as a roadmap. I feel like I spent many years living a life that wasn’t a good fit. Carrying on with no vision of how I wanted my life to look and feel. In a way, Sunday Notes is a byproduct of a guy relentlessly trying to piece a puzzle together. I could be experiencing a garden-variety midlife crisis, and so on, but I...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Hello and Happy Easter to those who celebrate. Here are this week's notes. From me: Some things that don't work Compromise - This will sound self-centered and perhaps it is, but every time we compromise, we dilute a small part of ourselves. Compromise too much and we all but forget who we are. Contempt follows compromise. 5-minute rice - It takes 6-7 minutes. I have timed it. Doing nothing - It is the most common path and one that never works. H/T Seth Godin Obsessing over political views -...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Greetings friends. Here are this week's notes. From me: On signs I don't believe in signs, or maybe I do. For instance, if you're looking for a sign to make a change in your life, the very act of looking for a sign usually is the sign. Conversely, most signs are right in front of us. They are as plain as daylight. They are as right as a rainstorm. We're just too scared to acknowledge them. Or admit to ourselves they exist. Really, I believe in gut feelings. And my gut tells me to believe in...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Greetings and Happy St. Patrick's Day. Here are this week's notes. From me: Random thoughts on money, minimalism, and consumerism. Dust pollutes the air. Chemicals pollute water. Clutter pollutes the mind. Shopping for sport is an expensive and addictive hobby. Money reduces stress. Stuff, in most cases, increases it. Luxury items signal a person 'had' money or is in debt. Consumerism is an economic reward for servitude to an apparatus that wishes you could be automated. Excess money...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Greetings from Upstate, NY. Here are this week's notes. From me: On talent I don't think I've ever been talented at anything, and I'm not sure it matters. I played baseball as a kid. I was neither talented nor athletic. To get moderately good, I had to practice more than other kids. Like way more. I would practice nearly every day during the spring and summer. As an adult, I've been on many different career trajectories each requiring different skills that I eventually got good at, but again,...

2 months ago • 2 min read
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