Dry November: Day 19

Tonight I saw Jonathan Haidt speak at intelligence². Although I quite liked the book he wrote with Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind, the discussion was a bit disjointed and did not come to any conclusive answers. I’ll write about it at greater length tomorrow.

So what’s different? She says I’m more lucid when I get home from a night out, and I think I take less time to get going on an average morning. I am more productive, but how much more remains to be seen; I may try to do an analysis at the end of this month, as I do track what I do each day, and I could compare it to last month.

But the biggest difference is that I’m happier. I routinely measure my happiness, or rather unhappiness, with the Beck Depression Inventory (AKA BDI-II), having had periods of depression and low mood throughout most of my adult life, though lately I’ve more or less cured myself of this malady. (How would be a much longer post, but ask me if you’re interested.) This week I scored as low a score as I ever have, falling into the range for non-depressed normals. This number does seem to vary with alcohol consumption, and for longer than you might think; a heavy night can (mildly) affect the number for up to a few weeks.

I'm Bryan Kam. I'm thinking about complexity and selfhood. Please sign up to my newsletter, follow me on Mastodon, or see more here.