Alex, this hit home, especially your point about the body linking effort with pain. In my current research on 'Environmental Friction,' I’ve been looking at how repeated failure acts like a faulty sensor in a control system. We stop because our internal 'safety protocols' are trying to protect us from a perceived threat to our identity. Your letter is a vital reminder that resilience isn't just about grit, it's about the engineering of our internal meaning-making. Looking forward to more of this.
Alex, this hit home, especially your point about the body linking effort with pain. In my current research on 'Environmental Friction,' I’ve been looking at how repeated failure acts like a faulty sensor in a control system. We stop because our internal 'safety protocols' are trying to protect us from a perceived threat to our identity. Your letter is a vital reminder that resilience isn't just about grit, it's about the engineering of our internal meaning-making. Looking forward to more of this.
Thank you. This is sharp.
I like the way you framed it — repeated failure as a faulty sensor in the system.
At some point, effort stops feeling like movement and starts feeling like danger.
Not because the work itself is impossible.
But because identity gets tangled up in the pain.
And yes... a lot of what we call resilience is not grit.
It is whether we can stay in contact with meaning without our internal safety mechanisms pulling us out.
Appreciate you reading it this closely.