Git Repos, Robots, and following your interests

Recently I read a book called "Evolve Your Brain" by Joe Dispenza. It's a fascinating read about how your mind is not your brain, but how your mind can change your brain and your body. The parts of the book that really struck me had to do with the effects of stress and how it changes the search for novelty and new information.

Agency life is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The churn and burn causes an extended period of stress. This can change how you think. Ever notice your agency doesn't take the technical or creative risks you wish they would. According to "Evolve Your Brain" it has to do with the novelty seeking parts of your brain being overlooked in the search for safety. When you are always in a rush, and always under threat, seeking new and interesting isn't a priority, but safety is.

Worse than this, is that the long term effect is that the body and brain begin to view this constantly stressed state as normal. It becomes a new homeostasis. The body and mind become addicted to the feelings and chemistry that state provides. Ever noticed a stressed out, negative person who just says no all the time. This is a potential explanation.

When I left a particularly high stress role, I found that the adjustment to lower stress brought it's own stress. My mind was still seeking the fast pace I had become accustomed to, even though it wasn't necessarily healthy. Over time though, as I got used to the change in life, I was able to channel that back into programming interests that strayed from the familiar. I learned frameworks, robotics, css animation, and a host of other skills I had not considered before.

If you are feeling stuck, I would like to offer some of what I'm learning to you(whoever you may be). I don't claim that they are perfect code, but if they stir something in you that is good enough for me :) . The link to my repo is below. In it you'll find code for:

• using javascript to listen to sensors and react to light, sound, etc
• typescript and webpack
• sass
• es6
• react
• angular
• css3 animation

I hope that my experiments can stir something in your creative side that will bring you inspiration and joy.

https://github.com/Plasnid

Cheers,

Stuart