Internet Inspiration – October 30, 2015

I don’t know if any of you have ever done a backcountry trip like the ones NOLS leads, but these types of trips are some of my fondest memories. In fact, I am finding some trips that might be a great fit for my adult self. In any event, here are 5 things you’re already doing that would make you a great backcountry leader.

Do you guys know Tyler Knott Gregson? I think his poems are mostly floating around the interwebz; I found him on Pinterest. Here’s a really nice interview with him.

What illusion have you suffered from the most?

The illusion that simply caring for someone else, loving them, is enough to make them love themselves. It’s all we can do to start, truly, but people must choose it, and that’s a heartbreaking truth that goes unnoticed so often. We can only get people so far, and from there they have to go the rest of the way themselves, and it’s so hard to acknowledge that and to respect it, it’s so much easier to believe that if we just try harder, love more, give more, they will understand.

Three Etsy shops you should be following: Idea2Lifestyle | ShadowPlayNYC | Shovava

I really loved this article about Lady Gaga.

Gaga received an award, along with Sophia Loren, Herbie Hancock and others. Her acceptance speech was as dramatic as the music. Tears flowing, she said that this blessing of respectability was “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” And she remembered her childhood dreams this way: “I suppose that I didn’t know what I would become, but I always wanted to be extremely brave and I wanted to be a constant reminder to the universe of what passion looks like. What it sounds like. What it feels like.”

That passage stuck in the head and got me thinking. When we talk about living with passion, which is sort of a cliché, what exactly do we mean?

… As Martha Nussbaum wrote in her great book “Upheavals of Thought,” to be emotional is to attach yourself to something you value supremely but don’t fully control. To be passionate is to put yourself in danger.

From Wil Wheaton, 7 Things I Did to Reboot My Life. I think there are parts of this article that could be super preachy, or maybe hijacked by the Big Dieting Machine that wants you to be compliant, but I like how Wil acknowledges what makes him feel fulfilled and nourished and energetic, like he’s caring for himself.

I love Taylor Swift, as should we all, and I prefer the acoustic version of “Out of the Woods” a billion times more than the CD version.

How to spot a bad lover. YES A MILLION TIMES YES TO THIS. PLEASE READ BODY LANGUAGE.