The Relativity Theory of Everything

In 2020, when I lived two blocks from a hospital in Queens, shit started hitting the fan in my neighborhood well before it was even on the radar of my relatives outside of the city. That’s when I developed The Relativity Theory of Everything.

Three of my friends’ parents died, along with a friend’s two-year-old. I was kept up at night by ambulance sirens and helicopters. My brother, living in the outskirts of Oregon, saw none of this—and thought that I was paranoid because I was watching the news. Even after I turned off the news, I was still surrounded by signs of death. In his mind, I was being paranoid; in mine, he was being an idiot. From our perspectives, we were both right.

The Relativity Theory of COVID Cautiousness

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The Relativity Theory of Being a Snowflake

Everyone has A Thing—something that they’re just a little bit more sensitive about than others and are more likely to notice. Does this mean that those people are oversensitive? Nope—it just means that they have superpowers.

There is no one “right” amount of sensitivity. Because we don’t like to think that we’re snowflakes, we’re fast to avoid this charge by pointing out other areas of life where our emotions don’t get involved quite as easily.

Just remember: everyone has A Thing that came from somewhere. You have your own reasons for feeling like things aren’t fair, or a “hook” you can point to for feeling disadvantaged—even if you don’t advertise it. Maybe you can’t see someone else’s thing, but it’s just as real as yours:

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The Relativity Theory of Generalized Trust

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The Relativity Theory of Motivation

See also my bigger post on motivation, and my original thoughts on the real meaning of burnout.

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The Relativity Theory of Being Informed

This is why I don’t think people should feel guilty for ignoring the news.

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The Relativity Theory of Health

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The Relativity Theory of Self-Disclosure

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The Relativity Theory of Deliberation

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