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The ice we skate is getting pretty thin.

2020-07-14 · letter vlog · John · 3:33 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Personal life, Health) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, timely hook, community lore

Burnt out, struggling with OCD and dismayed by the US COVID-19 surge, John says a line from Hank's A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, that your own joy can be something you produce, has given him permission to make joy in hard times, as he did by finally solving a Rubik's Cube, because making joy cultivates hope.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The thin-ice cliche as a metaphor for 2020; John is fortunate but burnt out, parenting through uncertainty, and stuck in OCD thought loops

  • ★★ Thin ice has become such a cliche that we forget how terrifying it is: gliding from shore ever less sure the ground will hold, which John finds a fair metaphor for 2020. — 00:00:00 · Skating on thin ice
  • ★★★ John knows he is incredibly fortunate to have a safe home, work he can do from home and a healthy family, but he is struggling. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John is burnt out, not just with work but, like many parents, with helping kids through immense uncertainty and constantly managing and analyzing exposure risk. — 00:00:29 · occupational burnout
  • ★★★ The mental health problems John brought into this weigh on him: OCD's endless thought loops and compulsions are monotonous, and thinking the same thoughts over and over is soul-destroying. — 00:00:29 · mental disorder

00:00:58 — The US COVID-19 surge: Indiana versus Germany, failed political and public health systems, the deadliest 12 weeks in decades

  • ★★★ The US is experiencing an explosion of new COVID-19 cases even as many other countries make serious progress against the pandemic. — 00:00:58 · United States, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Last week (week of 6 July 2020) Indiana, population under 7 million, had more new COVID cases and deaths than Germany, population over 83 million. — 00:00:58 · Indiana, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★ John says Indiana is one of the better US states COVID-wise. — 00:01:27 · Indiana, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ John finds it frustrating and heartbreaking to see so much unnecessary suffering and death caused by the failure of US political and public health systems; he feels overwhelmed and powerless. — 00:01:27 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ The last 12 weeks have been the deadliest 12-week period in the US in many decades, yet people still call it a hoax. — 00:01:27 · United States, COVID-19 pandemic

00:01:56 — Hank's line about producing your own joy; John solves a Rubik's Cube; making joy cultivates hope; where do viewers find joy

  • ★★★ With the book out a week, John shares his favorite line from Hank's novel: you will struggle with not feeling productive until you accept your own joy can be something you produce. — 00:01:56 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor · also in: how we spend our days, I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.)
  • ★★ Unable to sleep around midnight, John decided to produce some joy and spent the next five hours watching Robbie Gonzalez explain how Rubik's Cubes work. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John has very limited spatial intelligence: after 13 years in his neighborhood he couldn't draw a map of it, and he can't do 25-piece children's jigsaw puzzles. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Last night, with Robbie Gonzalez's help and anxious insomnia, John finished a Rubik's Cube after 30 years of failure, producing some of his own joy. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Solving the cube wasn't a Vlogbrothers video, a podcast episode or answering overdue emails, but John says it also wasn't time wasted. — 00:02:55 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Hank's line gave John permission to produce joy even when worried and when so much is horrible; he must make room for seeking and making joy, because that cultivates hope. — 00:02:55 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, hope
  • ★★ John asks viewers to say in the comments where they have been able to make or find joy these days. — 00:02:55
  • ★ John really recommends Rubik's Cubes, stressing he solved his with his own two hands and a step-by-step YouTube tutorial. (playful) — 00:02:55 · YouTube

In the description and comments

  • ★ Replying to a comment about the titles, John says he is not sure what 'these titles' refers to, but All Star is one of his favorite pop songs. (playful) — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: COVID-19 pandemic · joy

Also: Works: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: hope · Insomnia · jigsaw puzzle · mental disorder · obsessive-compulsive disorder · occupational burnout · productivity

Places: Germany · Indiana · United States

Products: Rubik's Cube

Memes: Skating on thin ice

Only in the description or credits: All Star · Robbie Gonzalez

Also centred on joy: How Much Hope is OK? · Is Happiness the Goal?

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