trying on beliefs is a way to experiment with a different identity. I got this from the hot single nyc advice column for trying on the belief that you being with someone will be complementary. This is like what I was thinking with my thought experiments around turning around my hesitation towards action or anxiety around new situations. I’ve also been experiencing the same thing with my earrings—a bit of acting more confident and physically attractive than I felt like I was before? Manifesting that version of yourself is a way to fully commit and try out that identity for a bit. manifest is a super interesting term because it means to just bring something into being from nothing, and it’s gotten incredibly popular lately as a way for people with limited resources to realize their dreams. Why is it rising so much in popularity lately? With covid, are poeple feeling an extreme loss of control in their ability to shape the direction of their lives, and so manifesting is the ideal that we strive towards to regain control? Manifesting whatever belief or identity you want in yourself means having full control of your mind, body, and whole being. I really admire proficient actors for this reason. They’re able to completely change themselves to fill a role, which requires so much precise isolation of specific parts of their identity and changing those small pieces drastically.


This is the 68th installment in my experiment of publishing raw, lightly edited mini-essays every day towards achieving 100 public pieces. Check out the rationale and the full list here.