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- This email is about failure
This email is about failure
And a (huge) reason you might hate your art
Allie Lehman
March 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
A quick summary: It’s Sunday and today we’re exploring:
Why I love lifting weights but why I don’t always listen to my lifting app
Three ways to get lost online
How you hate the most valuable thing about your art
I did not have anyone edit this so if you see a typo, be relieved that I’m a human and not a robot.
Intersections
things that are connecting during my recess
I’ve started lifting heavy again after taking a year off. It’s humbling. But easier than I thought. The term “muscle memory” takes on a whole new meaning. I lift so I can stay strong and keep building muscle these last couple years of my 30s and well into the future. I’ll never be as young as I am today.
When I first started lifting weights1, I didn’t start with weights at all. I practiced my form with a PVC pipe. Then I slowly progressed. After taking my break, I was able to quickly get back to deadlifting and squatting my own body weight.
This weekend I finally jumped back into using the app that I used years ago when I was lifting the heaviest I’ve ever lifted. I looked down and it said that if I wanted to hit my max, I had to deadlift 39 times. I laughed to myself. I told myself, “Just lift to failure.”
And then I deadlifted 16 times.
More than I thought I’d accomplish, less than what some app told me I should aim for. A great perspective to have going into this week: go with your gut and try your best. It’s okay to ignore the apps. We know best. You can define failure. And failure is usually okay. Great, even!
Random
ways to discover things online without the use of the algorithm
This newsletter is about things that I think about, discover, or enjoy that don’t revolve around an algorithm feeding it to me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love the internet:
WikiTok: It’s like Stumbleupon (remember early 2000s internet?) but for Wikipedia.
People suggesting stuff: A Reddit post asking “What useful unknown website do you wish more people knew about?”
Public Domain Image Archive: I really love this work.
It’s fun to get lost online.
Let’s love the most valuable thing about our art
a quote that stuck with me
“People hate their own art because it looks like they made it. They think if they get better, it will stop looking like they made it. A better person made it. But there’s no level of skill beyond which you stop being you. You hate the most valuable thing about your art.”
P.S. You’ve enjoyed this newsletter over the years, you can help contribute to the cost of publishing. I don’t have any intention of putting up a paywall but you can Venmo me @alliepal or send a tip via Paypal (this account is under my maiden name Jocson because Paypal makes it nearly impossible to change your name). Thank you to all who tip me!
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