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Figuring Things Out

On underselling things

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

On underselling things

Read on my website​

Dear Reader,

I just finished week one of my internship. I'd been planning a YouTube video about the experience, and my first instinct was to undersell it: "It's been normal, I'm learning things." But sitting with it longer, I realized that was wrong. I'd been underselling it to myself, not just to whoever might watch.

Here's what's actually true: this week has been exciting. I've seen rare gear, robotic cameras, control rooms with dozens of screens, panels, buttons—a TV studio. Six months ago, I wouldn't have guessed I'd be spending my days here. And yet my default reaction was to flatten it into "normal."

I think I know why. Somewhere along the way, I trained myself not to get too sad about things, and the tradeoff is I also don't get excited. I keep the needle near baseline. It's saved me from a lot of disappointment. But it's also been quietly taxing the good things, charging interest I didn't notice until this week made the gap obvious.

So this isn't an argument for chasing highs or declaring "look how far I've come" and coasting. It's smaller than that: just noticing when something genuinely good is happening, and letting myself feel that it is — before I edit it down to "normal."

See you next week.

Warmly,
Suraj

If you'd like to hear more from me, here's my YouTube channel where I share lessons, experiments, tools, and resources to make life just a little better.

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Figuring Things Out

By Suraj Chaudhary

One lesson, thought, or resource to living a fuller life every week.

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