Comforting familiarity

Jamie Rubin wrote about waning motivation, and comforting familiarity yesterday –

Maybe it is familiarity during a time of uncertainty that I find comforting. The unknowns pull the levers of anxiety. Because of this, I have to limit myself to thinking about today and not worrying too much about what may happen tomorrow. When I start to think about tomorrow, or the next week, I find that my motivation is sapped just a little bit more.

No Motivation | Jamie Todd Rubin

We do find familiarity comforting. I’ve had a 80s playlist on Spotify on heavy rotation lately, and I realised earlier that it’s probably because this is my comforting familiarity.

Whatever works, and helps make each day a little lighter, and more productive, right?

At the same time, we’re in a challenging time. The pandemic challenges our ideas about how we live, how we relate to each other, and what “normal” is.

Perhaps this is also about tempering this unnerving change with familiarity to help us adapt better?