spiritus mundi...
“The spirit, outlook, point of view, or social and cultural values characteristic of an era of human history.”—wiktionary
This moment in history will be remembered as the time where we pivoted to the realties portrayed in social media. Everyone appears younger, prettier, skinnier, richer — but we are looking at filters.
We all know it’s fake but we are zombified—yummmmm warm pistachio, sugary butter something or other flavors oh and look, an embrace from a friend.
What if the narrator sprinkled or infused the reality lurking underneath the foam:
My goal for another year writing newsletter posts and books is authenticity.
Learning at the most inopportune times never fails to be amusing. I learned that the truth is often in the tension. For example, you can publish a book and your publicist and marketing person is inexplicably on holiday. Or another book is published and you have no idea — a silent launch without any fanfare or apparent exuberant push into the world.
Much is out of your hands. People either do their best or they don’t. Things either happen according to plan or they don’t.
The screenshot of the book and author don’t show the frustration and ineptitude on both sides of the publishing equation. It certainly doesn’t mean that I am not proud of the achievement, the hardworking publication teams, or sacrifices from my family—it just means that in a world where everything has a filter—I am choosing to let you see all of it.
Let’s call 2023 the year of making sausage.
I always joked that I speak for free — you are paying for the travel. Hiring a speaker for your event isn’t only about the 45 minutes at the podium. It includes the perspective of someone with experience across academia, industry, government, agencies and more. In addition to multiple degrees obtained, a few highlights include the time I had to pull a speaker off the stage that was making claims about an off label indication for a drug, or tell the infectious disease keynote to slow down on the evening porn watching in the hotel because the pharma company was definitely not going to reimburse for that indulgence, or hold the hands of a brilliant elderly physician while he was being recorded to minimize the unintentional tremor (the single most beautiful memory of my career).
Too many to name but all come on stage with me and flavor how I talk to you and what I choose to speak about.
I am unable to fake enthusiasm for drug launches that only look at profit and not the outcomes of the patients. I watch the conference rooms fill for topics about machine learning and artificial intelligence and remember something a wise and respected physician told me.
Beware of anything that puts more distance between the patient and the healthcare provider. My own physician once said, I treat patients not statistics or algorithms.
I need a break. Writing deadlines, caring for an elderly parent 500 miles up the road, my own adult children out in the world experiencing their own spiritus mundi…and a bit of the melancholy that stirs to the top when writing about climate change and social inequity.
February might be the quiet rewind needed after the hopeful power declarations of January. I tend to disappear for a few weeks. January launches a 10 mile a day running challenge but February is where I flex the new found discipline into a particular direction.
I will run by the sea but let my mood decide the distance. I will write but only until I capture what I need to say, relying on a well built outline as a scaffold.
Are you dreaming something into reality? Come along for the journey.
xo
My only ask is that you perhaps share. Sign up for a paid subscription if you can — the new chat function might be fun to try but to be protective of earnest and truthful storytelling, some things will remain behind the paywall.