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What I want to write about today has to do with your connection to other people and to the world. It's something I've kind of had on my mind for a while, and it starts with moving into an apartment.

For most of my life I've either been a student or lived with my family, so it's only recently that I've had the time and the money to decorate my living space just the way I want. It's kind of forced me to identify a coherent aesthetic language that will work for an apartment but also for other ways I express myself like clothing or art. That's been really fun, but it also got me thinking.

It's really cool how everybody decorates differently. When going to different houses it's so interesting to notice what they do similarly or differently to how you would, especially when they have a particularly unique or fun style. With the added context that trying to decorate my own space has given me, I've been very interested with smart ways to use space or cool ways to adorn the walls. At times I have even asked to take notes and record videos of ideas that I wanted to borrow.

I love the idea of our tastes and creativity spilling out beyond ourselves. Like our feeble bodies can't contain the energy and exuberance we produce so it explodes out of ourselves onto the walls and floors, leaving it decorated with posters and carpets and colors. When your soul is under so much pressure it explodes out of your body like steam escaping from a lidded pot and splatters itself all over your room.

Originally I mainly had this thought in reference to decorating an apartment or home. After all, your own personal and private space is what you'd have the most control over. People also decorate their cars and workplaces and bodies, but I feel like the home is where someone's personality truly shines through. Where you make every tiny decision not only because you must, but because living somewhere that is not beautiful and cozy wears on the soul. I love the idea that some people, simply by existing, have no choice but to fill the world around them with beauty and life.

This uncontainably energy is similar to what drives me to do so many projects and adventures. Living a boring life would wear on the soul just as much as living in a boring place. People sometimes comment on my high level of drive and energy but really it feels like the opposite; not a pushing myself towards excitement but rather pulling myself away from tedium and obscurity. An endless battle against entropy. If I let myself go I will dissolve away into the air like an unattended helium balloon, soon to be nothing more than the thin skin that surrounds what was once a noble gas.

Sometimes when I mention a slice of what I do to others they're initially confused or impressed, but there is one response that is by far my favorite. "You inspire me go out and live life more". I really really liked hearing that - it was actually very validating. I hope it is not too arrogant of me to feel like this, but I like to think the process of adding life and personality to the space around you is similar to what is happening here.

I would probably do all these things anyway, but if all of this can serve to inspire those around me which might in turn lead them to inspire other on their own, then I can think of no better outcome. I once wrote about legacy as the little pieces you leave along the way, and this is exactly what I mean. By succuminbing to the pull of your uncontrollably vivacious spirit, your actions will pave the path behind for others to follow whether you try to or not.

I think this is a really powerful idea. Everybody is not only forging their own path through the dense underbrush of life, but by doing so they leave breadcrumbs for others to follow. Science often speaks of standing on the shoulders of giants to do what they do, but I think the same applies for everything else. We would not be who we were if we did not, in the key moments throughout our life, get glimpses of greatness through the thick foliage which compelled us to just slightly alter our path to make it there.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit". I think that's kind of the idea I've converged to. What we do, we do not just for ourselves but also for everyone else, present or future, that will look upon our lives and see pieces of who they could be.

Of course some are better than this than others. I want to be someone who is great at it. Ah here we go again, going on about greatness, but you gotta shoot for the moon right? I feel like maybe now is the right time to come up with a catchy name for this idea. hmmmm. Breadcrumb trail of inspiration maybe? The type of legacy I want is one that leaves as many breadcrumbs of inspiration as possible? Maybe.

Regardless, that's what I keep in mind. In the same way that when decorating a home you will keep in mind the guests that will stop by, and the reaction you wish for them to have, I keep that in mind when planning out goals for life and how I want people to feel when hearing about it all. And in the same way no matter what others think you will always decorate for yourself, because you want to live in a place of beauty, I will keep doing what I do because I want to live a life of beauty. At least, that's how I want it to look to myself.