◉ Newsletter | Frustrations

Hello,

This newsletter will contain fewer sections and be more rambling than is typical.

The main reason for this is that a major house improvement project has been going on for weeks. The entire family has had to be out of the house for several days because of a combination of noise, dust, and fumes. This has been super disruptive to all routines—especially my sleep routine. When my sleep gets disrupted for a day, I can usually still function, but several days of sleep disturbances throw off other important routines (eating, exercising, etc.)

The result has been that doing my normal clinical work, parenting, and managing the project manager who is overseeing this work has taken almost all of the available energy that I usually invest in podcasting and other creative stuff.

(I’m writing this in spurts, on my phone, between incoming demands for my attention.)

Psychoanalytic stuff

A small group of analysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists here in the Chicagoland area try to get together on the last Tuesday evening every month because community is a good thing for all of us. However, we could not make this happen last month because a major thunderstorm with hail and tornado warnings attached to it passed through on the evening we were scheduled to meet up. This month, we are meeting on the third Tuesday (3/19), and I’m looking forward to seeing all the local people I enjoy being around and talking to.

After that, the next in-person event I’ll be attending—and presenting at—is Clinical Study Days (4/5-4/7), which is a little over three weeks away. I’ve started trying to set up meetings with people I’ll see when I’m there. I only get to see most of these people in person two or three times a year, so I try to make the most of the time we are all at the same location.

Podcasts / Teaching

This week was a frustrating week when it came to making podcasts.

I tried to make a podcast in my car, but the sound was not good enough. Then I tried to make one at home, but there were lots of distractions and interruptions.

I also tried to record the first episode of SWK-6521 Season 2, but I was too tired and way out of the headspace I like to be in when I make stuff… I knew this soon after I hit record and started talking into the microphone, but I tried to force myself to keep going. I should know better than to do this because I’ve tried it before, and the result has never been good.

This time was no exception. As I recorded, I could hear the vibe was all sorts of wrong. If I had just recognized that I was not in the right place to make the podcast and done something else instead of forcing myself to make the podcast, I would probably have gotten something else done and felt less frustrated.

Oh well. Live and learn, or in my case, live and learn the same lesson I’ve already learned again. Sometimes, that’s just how it goes. Maybe this time, the lesson will sink in, eh? I sure hope so.

If I’m not too out of sorts because of lack of sleep, I will try to podcast from the office where I see patients this week. If I’m not in the right headspace, I’ll work on something else. There is no sense in repeating the frustrations of last week again!

[S][J][P]

The open rates in the recommendations emails I send out are usually around 63%, which is high! The click-through rate (i.e., people clicking on the links to open them) is also pretty good.

This has me thinking more about what [S][J][P] is turning into than what I thought it would be when I first launched it.

When I started the site, I thought it would be a blog that only focused on Lacanian theory and practice. But it seems that my unconscious had other ideas, and it had become a blog of things that brought surplus jouissance into my life.

One of those things is thinking about Lacanian psychoanalysis, but clearly, that is not the only thing.

I also enjoy figuring things out by making things and then sharing them. Sometimes, I think this reveals a sort of verbose narcissism that I hope is not too off-putting…

Thanks for reading and listening, as I enjoy thinking, discovering, and constructing things. I sincerely hope that what I make and distribute through [S][J][P] brings some surplus enjoyment into your lives.

Support?

[S][J][P] runs on runs on a patronage model. The writing is and will always remain public—there are no paywalls for anything I make— however, readers/listeners who value the content and have the means to do so are encouraged to support my work.

Fin

That is it for this one. Till next time, make those glorious mistakes!

-N