I Pondered 1,000+ Ideas in 2022 — Here Are the 3 That Stuck

After sieving out all the dirt, these three gems remained.

Image created on Canva

In the past year, I published 72 articles, sent out 21 newsletters, and penned down 1,238 ideas in my note-taking app. I also built a website and started toying around with several book ideas.

This is a problem.

Not in the sense that I should’ve churned out more content, but rather that it’s too much information. See, all wisdom is worthless if it’s buried like a jewel below the sand grains of the Sahara. It takes constant effort to maintain a clean architecture of ideas.

So, I decided to do some digging. I turned over all the ideas I pondered in 2022 — everything from intriguing books to sparkling conversations. I sieved out all the dirt. And scooped up all the gems from the dunes.

Here are the three most valuable insights that remained.

1. The Meaning of Love

Isn’t it strange that we all use the word ‘love’ to express vastly different ideas? We naively assume that we share the same understanding of love just because we watch the same romcoms and listen to the same love songs. But if that were true, there’d be significantly fewer breakups and Tinder would’ve gone extinct long ago.

The reality is this: our definitions of love are utterly private, locked away in the dungeon of our minds. What’s worse, we’re unable to evert our inner world through the fickle medium we call language. Put differently: We think we talk about the same thing — love — but actually, we speak different languages. Misunderstandings are predestined.

This realization may seem depressing. But honestly? I think it relieves a ton of pressure. Like putting down grocery bags after a long walk home.

Just consider this: When you tell someone, “I love you,” and that person doesn’t say it back, it doesn’t mean they don’t love you at all. It simply means they love you differently. Justifiedly so: Everyone has made a unique experience with love, and so, your definition will vary from mine.

Love to me, for instance, is the ability to be completely vulnerable with someone. It’s the willingness to share…