Hey โ Jamie here.
Tomorrow's my birthday! I'm thinking of going to the Natural History Museum. I haven't seen a dinosaur in ages.
With another year under my belt, I've been reflecting on which parts of my past I don't want to drag into my next solar orbit. The shift in perspective has been so liberating and energising that I've made it the star of this week's article.
Table of Contents
- Pancakes and Imagination
- Articles & Guides
- Stories & Reflections
- Favourite Finds
Pancakes & Imagination
Pancake Day has come and gone. Itโs the annual tradition where everyone in the UK eats pancakes. Yes, truly. And not the horrid fluffy, cakeโy kind โ the crepe kind.
My pancake topping of choice is jam โ strawberry, never raspberry. I suspect nominative determinism played a role. โJamโ was a nickname my dad gave me when I was a boy. Iโm unsure if it came before or after I fell in love with jam. My mum was a lemonโandโsugar woman; her love of sour went hand in hand with her love of chilli.
Pancake Day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), a Christian festival marking the day before Lent: the fortyโday fast that precedes Easter.
Iโm a subscriber to the idea of Atheism 2.0. In part, it means picking and choosing the best bits from religious traditions to colour a secular life. Like someone who enjoys Christmas music but isnโt keen on the scripture. Or someone who likes meditation but doesnโt want to shave their head.
After pancake toppings, chatter with my friends moved to what weโre giving up for Lent โ less because of religion and more because challenges can be fun. Still, I wondered where the imagination was. Most people said things like chocolate, coffee, doomโscrolling, dating actors.
But what about giving up people pleasing, doubting your instincts, or sanding down the merit of your ideas?
Thatโs the theme of this weekโs edition: letting go of the things that are holding you back.
Iโve also included the story of when a Christian preacher made a habit of delivering sermons outside my balcony. I fought back.
Articles & Guides
Closing loops, re-energising your life
At a glance
- Based on the reader question: 'I feel worn out by all the things Iโve started, postponed, or abandoned. How do I sort through my goals and to-dos, finish the right ones, and let the others go?'
- Open loops drain you by keeping part of your attention elsewhere, even when you think youโre resting
- You can overcome this by off-loading first, writing a clear next step, then closing what matters and deleting what doesnโt
- The New Year instinct to add goals to an already full plate is usually self-sabotage, not self-improvement
- Some loops should be retired or protected, especially the ones tied to grief or still incubating
Introduction
With no other obvious culprit, we blame our exhaustion on our modestly packed schedule. Yet, when we check our maths, the numbers donโt quite add up. Thereโs another factor at play. We have too many open loops.
The unanswered message.
The unfolded clothes.
The unframed art.
The unwanted, stillโuncancelled toothbrush subscription.
This family of unfinished business beeps away in the background, like a ceiling full of smoke alarms with low batteries. Every loop demands a slice of attention, a sliver of guilt, and carries a haunting worry that weโre falling behind.
Itโs no wonder that, when we sit down to work or play, weโre exhausted. Half our reserves have been eaten up by our open loops.
Close these loops and youโll rediscover fresh wells of energy and mirth. Without the burden of a cluttered mind, you can unclench and finally breathe again.
To get there, Iโll share why open loops and mental clutter are so draining, point out a common mistake we make when setting goals (especially at New Year), and offer a guiding exercise to help you start closing the loops that keep tapping you on the shoulder.
Then we can discuss the kinds of loops that are the exception to all the rules.
Stories & Reflections
Radiohead vs The Preacher
July 2025
โAccept our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ!โ
Ugh. This guy again.
Ever since I got burgled, Iโve become more defensive when it comes to protecting my home. I havenโt told you about the burglary yet. It happened in May 2025. Iโm still dealing with the fallout.
Part of the fallout is that my mind lives in overdrive. Like a meerkat in the African savannah, my mind is always up on its hind legs, scanning for threats and vulnerabilities in my little London flatโฆ
Favourite finds
Ad-free, scam-free internet (tech tip)
Adding to last edition's DuckDuckGo trick for an ad-free YouTube on iOS and Android, here is the desktop edition. The easiest way is to use Brave Browser. You'll find the vast majority of adverts gone. I recommend this for people who aren't comfortable with computers. It's also built on Chromium, so you can use Chrome extensions.
If you are comfortable, I'd suggest Firefox and UBlock Origin. It's better at handling multiple tabs, more customisable, and net-neutral as it's outside the Google ecosystem.
With the Firefox option, I also have a tweak for swatting away those 'Do you accept cookies?' banners. I'll share that in the next edition.
The irony of a creator sharing ad-blocking tips is not lost on me, but my workaround is simple: I turn the blocker off for people I actively want to support.
For me, the important principle is consent. An ad-blocker lets us decide what gets put into our minds, not a distant ad team or scammers, which matters even more when monopolies like Google and Meta are trying to crush these tools to keep their grip on our attention.
With scams getting more and more sophisticated, I would also recommend you put these blockers on the devices of anyone who is likely to get confused by scammy ads or overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of adverts on the internet now.
The Life of Chuck (film)
I watched The Life of Chuck the other Sunday on Netflix and I can't stop thinking about it. It's tender, hopeful, strange, and quietly devastating in all the best ways. Whether you watch it or not, remember that '[You] deserve to be wonderful.'
(That'll make more sense when you watch the film.)
A handy keyboard shortcut (tech tip)
I learned this shortcut recently and it's made my workflow instantly feel less clunky.
On a Mac, most people know that Command + Tab lets you switch between apps. But if you have several windows of the same app open, Command + ` will let you cycle between those windows.
The symbol is called the 'backtick' if that helps you find it. It's next to 'Z' on my QWERTY UK keyboard.
Love Locked Out, 1890 (painting)
See the final image below. Itโs not some random little boyโs bottom; itโs Cupid. The Tate Britain's caption is what made me realise how achingly beautiful the piece is:
"This picture is a memorial to Anna Lea Merrittโs husband, who died just two months after they married. It shows young Cupid pressed against the door of a tomb. His arrow and lamp lie on the ground. He is waiting, said the artist, โfor the door of death to open and the reunion of the lonely pairโ."
That's all for this week's edition. Feel free to reply to this message. I'd love to hear your favourite finds, questions, and requests.
Jamie | @JamoeMills
โ๏ธ From a sunny London
Find a better way to solve problems that matter.
P.S. Itโs my second birthday without my parents, though Iโm reminded of some comforting words a dear reader shared last year: โIโm sure it was also one of the most precious days of your parents' life when you arrived. So celebrate the joy you clearly brought them!'. Iโll be holding onto that thought as I look for wombats and ankylosauri in the museum with my sister.
