The Robert Project: Recent Episodes
Robert Nowland
I document the thoughts, feelings, experiences, resources and teachings in my life’s journey, sharing it all unfiltered with you. I know how bloody bamboozling life can be for creative and curious folk like us, wandering in the dark, asking questions for which there seems no answer. But I believe by removing the boundaries, welcoming total vulnerability and sharing authentically in that journey, we can get just a little bit closer to what it truly means to live a fulfilled life. Even though we can never know for certain, at least know you’re not on that path alone.
Learning to trust an intuition that is beyond reason is one of the scariest things you can do, and it’s not something we’re taught. In fact quite the opposite, we’re taught to deal in absolutes, that there’s always a right answer that you need to know exactly where you’re going at any moment. But following compass is also one of the most powerful and courageous things you can do, if only you can learn to listen to it’s hum.
I tried to film a vlog, but as it often does a sense of perfectionism kicked in and I struggled to get it feeling like I wanted. I didn’t know what the story was and just plain struggled. Just when I hit some kind of resolution I decided to quit. On the flip side, chatting with mum about life and it’s trajectory results in a rather dreary yet incredibly candid conversation that looking back makes me realise what an unconstructive frame I was in. I think it’s important to document these moments so we know, we’re not alone.
Sometimes I think, figuring out what you want in life is the hard part. Once you know, you've set your course. This was a little evening session where I riff on parental triggers and conditional love, creativity, but most importantly, on the importance of making decisions, and why if you're feeling overwhelmed or uncertain, it's probably your inability to make a decision that is holding you back, more so than whatever decision you actually make.
After all, life is not about making the right decisions, so much as it is, about making the decisions right...
Another year, another chance to reflect on where the fuck my life is heading. Except this year, I decided to do something radical, I asked myself, what would happen if I ran one kilometre for every year that I've been alive? Sounds fair enough, except I'd never run anywhere near that far before, and I hadn't done any training. The last 2 times I tried running, I had to stop from knee pain. So perhaps this wasn't the best idea...
On the night before my 23rd birthday my mind was racing, so I sat down on the balcony in the crisp night air in my jocks and explored feelings on where my future lies with design, why we shouldn't use evidence as a way to choose the beliefs we adopt, and why I'm considering borrowing an internal narrative from the wild world of religion.
Me in a tree, the day before my birthday, contemplating what it means to be an adult and find purpose while exploring the infuriating questions you should never ask a child.
Yo! Today I returned to the first place that I went to after my 2-week long mandatory hotel room isolation when I first travelled to the state a year ago. It reminded me how grateful I was for all the small freedoms I had taken for granted before, seeing peoples faces, feeling the breeze in my hair and the warm sun on my skin. It's so easy in life to sprint aboard the hedonic treadmill and forget that we already have everything that we need to be happy right in front of us. Perhaps we could all do to have a little more childlike wonder for the world, like I did that day.
I also reflected on pushing the first episode of the podcast out into the ether, and what that felt like: fucking fantastic.
Ayo peeps! This is the first ever episode of the podcast. Today I chatted about travelling the uncharted path of life, and how we have to learn to embrace uncertainty to get where we want to go, even if we might not know where that is. I go through a bit of an exercise I like to do to help me come to terms with that, and share a little reading recommendation: Bird by bird by Anne Lammot. Probably as I publish this, my sister Katie is the only person reading this (Katie you’re a G) but I like to think that hundreds of episodes later I will read back over this description fondly, reminiscent of a simpler time in my life. That’s the cool thing about documenting shit. Perhaps I’ll be rich and famous by then. Actually who am I kidding… of course I will be Ahaha. Nah look in all honesty I actually enjoyed this a bunch. Maybe one day it’ll find an audience, but if not it’s kinda just cool to have as a record.