If you’re reading this, welcome. But know that this blog is a selfish place, it’s really more of a place to jot down some ideas about the things that interest me than for achieving widespread attention or readership. Some of the things you’ll see pop up include living a meaningful life, lifting heavy things, investing, philosophy, and just knowledge that’s impactful across many areas of your life.
The idea of the ‘Rugged Gentleman’ might sound like an oxymoron at first. After all, thinking of each word individually probably conjures up very different archetypes in your mind; two things that rarely intersect. And there is an element of truth to it in that they are two different lifestyles that are generally in opposition at a given point in time, but in reality life is like a pendulum and having the flexibility to adapt to the needs of the situation at hand is key.
This idea has roots across history and geography as well. There is a Chinese proverb that says ‘civilize the mind, but make savage the body’. In ancient Greece, the famous philosopher Socrates has a quote saying ‘No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.’ There are many examples everywhere. Henry David Thoreau is a more contemporary example, an American academic , and naturalist who built the house that he wrote his magnum opus from, while living a mostly self sufficient existence (though his views on seeking enjoyment and pleasure in life seem a little too restrictive and dull for my taste).
This is all just a long winded way of saying that my ideal life is one of physical and mental sharpness, with the ability to seamlessly cross between the worlds of nature and modernity.
The Rugged Gentleman 