#012 The World Keeps Ending. We Keep Going.
Notes on overwhelm, creativity, and the strange normalcy of modern crisis.
I’ve been trying to process how we’re supposed to live normal lives when the world feels… like it does right now. With news of bombings in Iran, whispers of World War III, and people being detained by ICE across the country — how are we expected to keep going?
And yet, here we are. Doing exactly that.
There’s that idea that humans can only hold space for a handful of close friends and acquaintances in our minds. It’s called Dunbar’s number. Five close friends or loved ones, fifteen good friends, fifty friends, and so on. Our brains literally cannot handle more than that.
I think that applies to how we’re viewing society right now too. So much is happening, so fast, especially for those of us in our 20s and 30s. We’ve already lived through so much in just a few years. It’s to the point now where each day of our lives feels like it could be a full two week lesson plan in a high school history class. And I want to care, I want to stay on top of the news and be in-the-know. But my brain just can barely hold space for anything else on top of the normal stresses of life— job, rent, health, family.
I just finished reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63, and in the book there is a section on the Cuban Missile Crisis. A modern man has travelled back in time (not really a spoiler) and he witnesses the folks of 1962 as they respond to the events. Even people who had survived World War II suddenly believed the world itself might end within days. Now, we have existential threats weekly, and we’re still going grocery shopping, still walking our dogs.
And on top of it all, as creatives— which I’m guessing majority of people reading this are—we keep creating. Even this week, with global tensions, I’m somehow more stressed about finishing my screenplay draft. That is terrible! I’m putting together a lookbook while the world feels like it might be ending. It’s surreal.
We weren’t meant to process this much. I personally feel like I can’t. And I wish I didn’t feel this hopeless about it all, but I do.
But we’ve just got to keep pushing through, digesting as much as we can while also still keeping our sanity and holding space to create.
Maybe continuing to make things — stories, films, books, art — is how humans have always survived the feeling that everything might fall apart.
And since this is meant to be a Substack about sharing what I've been consuming in tv, film, and books — I’ll segue to what I’ve been watching and reading. It's funny that they coincide with the previous rant so perfectly.
Paradise - Hulu
I don’t want to spoil this for the (likely few) people who haven’t already seen season 1 of Paradise, but if you haven’t watched yet, I would highly recommend!
The first season kept me on my toes, balancing an elevated reality (sometimes feeling almost like a prestige soap) while still grounding itself through stellar acting. By the end of the season, the show shifts into a terrifyingly realistic portrayal of what our future could look like in the wake of a world-ending natural disaster. I’ll just say: I had to take a cold shower after episode 7 to calm myself down.
Now, Season 2 is here, and it’s delivering again. I’ve watched the first three episodes, and I’m excited to see where all these plot lines go. Episode 1 introduces us to a new character played by Shailene Woodley. Like S1E7, I thought it was incredibly grounded and well done. I think Shailene gives an Emmy-worthy performance, and I’m always shocked to see how far she’s come since her The Secret Life of an American Teenager days. She keeps getting better and better, and I love how real she feels in all her roles.
I’m genuinely excited to see where this season takes us.
11/22/63 - Stephen King
A behemoth of a book, clocking in at 800+ pages.
This is only my third Stephen King read, and at this point I feel like I need guidance on where to go next. Fairy Tale was just fine for me, and Elevation I honestly thought was pretty bad. This one, though, I enjoyed — even if I couldn’t help feeling it might have benefited from being about 300 pages shorter.
The cover more or less tells you the premise, so this isn’t a spoiler: the novel follows a man who travels back in time to try to stop the assassination of JFK.
The opening section is genuinely gripping in setting the premise, and I tore through those early chapters. But then the book settles into a long middle stretch where our protagonist simply… lives in the 1960s. And while that portion is beautifully written and often captivating, it creates a strange tension as a reader. I knew there was an enormous historical event looming — it’s literally printed on the cover — and so part of me just wanted the story to move faster toward that inevitable day.
At times, it felt like King was writing two different novels: a propulsive time-travel thriller and a nostalgic portrait of a man falling in love with the 1960s. The world-building is compelling, even if you’re impatiently waiting for history to arrive. The decade itself feels similarly conflicted — appealing in its simplicity (cell phones have literally ruined us), but hard to fully romanticize knowing how much progress still lay ahead.
Which, strangely, circles back to the larger feeling I’ve been having lately: every era believes it’s standing on the edge of catastrophe — and people still wake up, fall in love, go to work, and plan for a future anyway.
I’ll leave you with some music that has been on repeat for me.
I’ve really been leaning into almost meditative music. Calming. Hmm wonder why.
This one has been on repeat. I love the trance-like beat, and I’m excited to see what the rest of his new album is like. March 6!
I always love a Lake Street Dive cover, and hey this one is from the 1960s!
Another cover! The harmoniessss, ugh! I love this take on the classic Neil Young song, and I just think Trousdale is so cool. “We loved the idea of following our album Growing Pains with a song about growing up — and how we all want and need so many of the same things in life no matter our age.”
I’ve been listening to John’s Battle Studies album a lot, and keep putting this song on repeat. The bass line is hypnotic and I love the instrumental section. And having moved back to Ohio for a bit, I find this lyric especially resonant after bouncing around the country for the last fifteen years:
Young and full of running
Tell me where has that taken me?
Just a great figure eight,
Or a tiny infinity.
So, so well put, Aaron 🤍