pun-intended consequences

Hello friend—you’re receiving this email as a part of morning reading, a daily reflection on the parts of life worth living for that you signed up for sometime last year. I've got a laundry list of additions, designs updates, and website pieces I want to make, but ultimately, I just wanted to bring this back. Thank you for reading, and a very happy New Year. 

JANUARY 4THUNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Good morning, friend.There’s many lessons of history. Here’s one of them:Every single person who has accidentally fallen off a ladder didn’t think they were going to.They walked up to the ladder, hand to the top, foot to the rung, and climbed. And then, symptoms ranging from sprained ankles to a relatively embarrassing death. Consider the facts: it’s quite difficult to suggest that people who climb ladders do not know that falling off of them is a possibility worth thinking about. It’s even more outlandish to suggest that people climb ladders with the intention of falling off of them. And yet, the fact remains: people fall off of ladders.The first lesson of history isn’t some far-off notion about civilization or the perils of fighting land wars in Asia. It exists in the relationship between your hand a ladder before you make the decision to climb. You can check the brace of the ladder. You should make sure the rungs are in good condition and will not give out. You would be wise to move in a slow, consistent matter so as to not upset the ladder.But you also have to know that, even with every precaution taken, there’s still a chance—albeit a small one—of humpty-dumptying your way into the history books. This is the basic lesson from the past: life has a way of convincing us of it’s certainty. You could probably rename history documented uncertainty. The truth is, when things go according to plan, we don’t feel the need to write them down. In it’s most rudimentary form, history is a documentation of things that have previously never happened before. Or, in the words of Calvin and Hobbes,“Scientific Progress Goes, ‘boink’”Here's to a great day.Journal prompt: when was the last time you realized you were wrong about a previously held belief? What was it that made you change your mind?