Lines and slopes
There are these lines. They are a point and a slope. The point is start time. The slope defines its value across time.
I started some lines early. I liked reading and could read before primary school. I read everything in my hands. I read shampoo ingredients. That line started very early, and I work on widening it every day. This is the knowledge line.
I started some lines late. Didn’t properly saved any money until 2012, and had a few resets until 2020. Since then it has had a good slope, which adding compound interest makes it froth surprisingly faster. I can’t imagine having properly started this line 20 years before, it would mean freedom. This is the safety line.
With some lines, the problem was slope. From point zero I started to relate to other people. But maybe because of the influence of the generalisation that comes from the first line, for lack of rich interactions, or simply skill issue, the slope has always been very low. It’s my decision anyway. Having other interests than the ones I have would surely increase the slope of this one: more dramatic movies, more self help books, more… spending more real time with more real people, that’s all that’s needed. This is the social line.
Some lines I haven’t been able to keep straight at. I’ve tried plenty of things here: knowing more than anybody I know about something, political expression, entertainment, travelling, moving country, finding a partner, building wealth for wealth’s sake. To no avail. This is the last line. This is the ego and self-actualisation line. Funny how I mix them.
Now, going from the top, one line I haven’t mentioned is the physiological one. I’m privileged in that I’ve hardly have to worry about that one.
And one line that doesn’t match the pattern is the knowledge line. I think it’s because for me this line is safety, is social, is ego, is self-actualisation. And it doesn’t work. It’s an addiction. It’s because of fear. And I don’t have an answer here. But I think it comes from focusing on the social line more. Because they are not lines, they are levels, foundations. And I cannot build the ones on the top without the ones in the bottom.
Yeah, this is not about lines and slopes.