Reflecting on a lot of things. A year and a half ago I barely hiked or ran, and now that's mostly what I do in my free time. Guitar has taken a back seat, though I think a lot of that and my angst about radio are justified given my experiences in those scenes in the PNW (oh no). Whereas the running and outdoors community have been much more down to Earth and friendly. However, has this resulted in me not necessarily wanting to be in a relationship? Or more unable to be in one than in the past. For a while, yes, thought I wanted one and it would be great but now that I've been in one for a few months, that's not necessarily the case. Or maybe the bigger problem is I hadn't given enough thought as to what I want in/from a relationship. Or is it that I have ventured so far into those communities that it has cut me off from being romantically viable/compatible with people not in those communities. Unrelated friends/people at restaurants/people at bars keep making this assumption that I'm dating person X, Y, etc. when we're out after a run or whatever. What do I want.
Again, I feel like whenever I come back to read a comment or post from you, we seem to run in parallel. I can connect to how you feel. I also mainly run, hike or climb in my free time and have similar thoughts about relationships. Oh dear elders, come and guide us. Have you ever read Hermann Hesse?
mk am I missing something, when did this become a "discuss" button and "contribute" button? Whoa. Welcome back, Cumol! It's good to see you here again. There's something about being outdoors that's exceedingly human. I think that running, in particular, is one of the most human activities. Other animals sprint, dig, fight, etc., but very few are built for distances the way a person is. And yet it seems like very few people take advantage of that. The relationships question is a big one. I just saw your post and have a question for you, as it's a problem I have as well. What is it that causes you to lose interest after a few weeks? Nope! I've never even (knowingly) heard of Hermann Hesse before. Any recommendations on a good place to start with him?
As a Hesse fan, please excuse me barging into this conversation. The works of his I'd most recommend are: Narcissus and Goldmund, Steppenwolf, and his magnum opus The Glass Bead Game (for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature). In fact, it was in that order that I read those works of his. His stories often deal with characters going through (trans)formative times in their lives, and contain a good amount of philosophy and metaphor.
This doesn't sound too dissimilar from Kundera, whom I love. I think I will start with Narcissus and Goldmund or Siddhartha. The reading list keeps growing...His stories often deal with characters going through (trans)formative times in their lives, and contain a good amount of philosophy and metaphor.
I read Siddhartha first which I inhaled. A short but good read. Then I read Steppenwolf. This took me a while but I think this is my favorite of him. I just finished Narziß und Goldmund lately and think it is fabulous too. He is very good at telling stories of characters and how they pass through their lives.