You chose to open my email. You might also choose to spend the next minute or two inhabiting this cosy little corner of my consciousness. Welcome. I’ll suggest an experiment for us later. First, I'll show you what’s going on in my brain: it’s often unexpected, overthink-y, and ricochets through thoughts like Dory through jellyfish. It’s not always productive, but it’s me. Here goes...
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Londoner.
Late twenties.
People excite me.
Especially those with different views or perspectives. They spark curiosity, I love that.
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I don't think people have a ‘type’. I think if someone happens to date 2-3 people who coincidentally have comparable physical characteristics, they think “Oh, that's my type then.”
Be conscious of what you tell yourself. Thoughts become things.
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My sister is my favourite person in the world. She's challenging, weird, mature beyond her years, and utterly hilarious. She's an unfair benchmark for anyone else I’ll ever meet.
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Anytime I read a new Listserve email, I find myself wondering about the writer’s gender. I sometimes flick to the end to discover whether I'm reading male or female thoughts. Perhaps it adds perspective? You'll see I haven't disclosed my gender. But maybe it's obvious? I wonder.
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How many of you are writers but don't know it yet, simply because you've never tried?
Dare to start.
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If you're in a relationship that’s negatively affecting who you are, get out. What do you love about your personality? If being with someone is starting to dampen that, then something’s wrong.
A genius recently wrote ""I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable, I am an original"".
You're in control. Step out if you don't like how you’re changing. I've been there, and I regret not stepping out sooner.
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If any thoughts or questions come to mind as you read all this, I'd like nothing more than to hear them, unfiltered.
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My favourite Listserve emails examine Listserve itself.
I've often agonised over what I'd write. There’s a list I add to whenever I think of something that would be cool to include. I inevitably catch sight of the previous thing I’d written and think “That's lame… that won’t make it into my Listserve”.
I'll leave you to guess how many made it in.
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“There are two types of people in this world. Weird people, and people you just don't know that well yet.”
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Have you ever searched your email for "You've won The Listserve!", in case you missed it?
If you ever do, I suppose this email would come up.
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Alex entered my life recently. He’s a force. Walking through Shoreditch, we pass a homeless person outside a newsagent. Alex doubles back, asks the homeless gentleman if he'd like something to eat. We enter the newsagent to buy him things. Later I ask Alex if he does that often. He replies “I try to do it once a week”.
Now, so do I.
We must never lose sight of how lucky we are.
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The world is small. I travel a lot. Let’s grab a drink one day?
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Sonder is my favourite word. Look it up.
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Seek out things that make you uncomfortable. You only get one shot at this life, why wouldn't you push at the edges of it?
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Finally, the experiment:
Imagine I'm a newborn baby. You can give me 1 piece of advice that I'll hold close for my whole life. What would it be?
Send your answer and the city you live in to [email protected]
Maybe I'll send you back an advice map of Earth.
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Can’t wait to see what happens next
B Govindji
London
[email protected]