Love those watches. These days you’ll hear people refer to an object as an heirloom, like an heirloom couch, which is typically an expensive object that has potential to be an actual heirloom. By definition, for an object to be an heirloom it has to be passed down through generations, but I like the use of it to refer to an object’s quality, which correlates to its potential to be passed down. Only then, when you talk about potential heirloom status does value enter the conversation. And I think that’s just because well-made things are typically expensive, especially these days. So value is only relevant given the correlation with quality. Nonetheless, I’d love to purchase an heirloom watch that one day becomes an heirloom.
Unless watches are a hobby for you or something, I don't think that's a good idea. In fact it's the point of the article that it's better if it's something less valuable, but meaningful to you (and hopefully reasonably maintainable/durable).
Some relatives apparently gave my father a silver spoon, with great ceremony and seriousness, because he was the last carrier of our last name. It was not a very pretty spoon, and it was more than a little odd, since I've since done some genealogy research and found out that we have plenty of relatives with that last name (admittedly they mostly converged on a slightly different spelling, our common ancestor living before that sort of thing was standardized).
There are so many things I would have more loved to have from those ancestors than a spoon.
From another ancestor, we have a chest, an "America suitcase". This ancestor, my great-great grandmother, was supposed to go to America with her parents, but they changed their mind at the last moment and went to Northern Norway instead. It's dented and worn, and it probably wasn't a very nice chest in the first place, since they were poor. But I think it's a much better heirloom - it is something signifying a very important crossroads in my family's history, and it even documents it to some degree (there's a year and initials painted on it).
I do believe a hypothesis to be different than a belief. A belief performs a different function than a hypothesis.
A hypothesis can be defined as a “proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth” (Oxford Languages definition). Typically a function you perform to unearth a truth.
A belief on the other hand holds some position on the spectrum of truth. To believe is to make an assertion about truth. A hypothesis is somewhat of a precursor to that.
But hey, regardless of our stance on the definitions of these words, I heavily jive with the idea that we should improve our beliefs over time and I have mad respect for Aristotle.
I don't think we disagree. A hypothesis is upgraded to "belief" and therefore to the "spectrum of truth" only because it's the best you know of, not because it's the only one. It's a matter of degree, not kind. And a belief's position as the best one is always precarious; it can be unseated at any time by a better hypothesis.
Axioms are different, but over time I've found that even those weaken and become "merely" strong beliefs (or, more usually, only True within the context you're working in, e.g. mathematics). Even "I think therefore I am" is not axiomatic, I have come to believe. In fact I doubt it's important to identify some sort of root cause, which is rationalist heresy. Oh well.
I believe this is known as ethical subjectivism and it’s not entirely uncommon. What you’re expressing is ethical objectivism. Both are fine and common viewpoints, but I’m not sure it’s accurate to express either with complete and utter certainty. Hopefully someone with more depth in the matter can correct me or add color.
A lot of people have mentioned therapy. Definitely second that. One area that I haven’t seen emphasized enough is exercise (maybe I haven’t read enough of the comments). Exercise has helped me so much with regards to depression and anxiety. And don’t pay attention to 1-hour high intensity classes or any other aggressive workout programs, just start small. 5-10 minutes a day and work up. I promise, it might be uncomfortable if you don’t already exercise in some capacity, but getting in shape physically will help make you feel better mentally.
Lastly, I don’t have great sources to link, but I’ve heard numerous people talk about their 40s being fantastic. I hope yours are too, at some point.
