Doorstoppers refer to books with a high page count, often around 500–1000+ pages. Basically books that are physically heavy and thick enough to act as an actual doorstopper. As someone who struggled to read books I could’ve never imagined myself going through one of these “doorstoppers”, let alone finishing a series of five such books. In case you didn’t read it in the title I’m of course talking about the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson.

I attended my first concert about two years ago. I was excited about it, I knew it was going to be fun. But I had no idea it would THAT FUN. I still remember walking out of the venue with a huge, involuntary smile on my face the whole way back. I wasn’t familiar with the phrase “concert-high” but when one of my friends used it to describe what I feeling, the term totally clicked. That’s exactly what it felt like. An overwhelming rush of joy that stayed with me for hours.

I wish I could live multiple lives. Some days I just want to have enough to live in a cabin by the beach, read all day, play board games with my friends in the evenings, and spend my time appreciating the calmness of the ocean waves. Other days, I want the world. I want to move to Silicon Valley, work in big tech, start my own company, and be really, really successful[1]. How does one figure out what one truly wants?

I used to believe that I don’t need people. Or communities. That one can be alone and still be content. I no longer believe that. I think our brains are hardwired to find a sense of belonging, a community, and we can’t be happy without that. And it can be hard. For me, finding people who were like me, who had the same interests, was hard. That’s why I guess, as a coping mechanism, I used to tell myself that I’m happier alone. But once you do find such people, you realize how much joy they bring to life.