(Re)Introducing the Chaos Palace
Life is inherently chaotic. Will you join us to explore the beauty of it?
Hey there fam,
How’s your week starting off? My wife and I started off pretty exhausted — Big Kid was awake with bad dreams and Baby woke up around 2:00 a.m. to chat with us. Sleep is such a major part of what I call my ‘brain maintenance.’ When I don’t get enough rest it actually feels like my mind is encased in honey. Working overtime to just barely ooze along. Not quite the speedy thinking us ADHD-ers are known for.
But, hey, fielding curveballs is what we do here at the Chaos Palace, right?
Speaking of what we do here...
Lately, I’ve received some feedback that it might not be totally clear to everyone how all the parts of Welcome to the Chaos Palace are connected. So, I thought I’d send a little clarifying note, especially since we have new subscribers in our midst who might not have read my initial explanatory post.
So here’s the crux of it.
This Substack is here to publicly explore a hypothesis with you all. The idea behind everything I write here is that life is inherently chaotic. It is only by accepting the messiness of the world can we unlock new realms of creativity and innovation, and relinquish the ego-driven violence that plagues humanity.
I’m not the first person to think of this idea, of course. I’m just trying to make embracing chaos an active part of my life practice. And I’m trying to bring you all along with me. There are three parts to the Chaos Palace, each with a role in bringing more tolerance to chaos into our lives.
Part 1: The Newsletter
This Week at the Chaos Palace is an update on how my wife, my kids, and I are dealing with the weekly plot twists we encounter, along with reading and music recommendations. That’s totally free. This is the most recent edition:
Part 2: Q&As with Innovative Folks
I want to know how others are thinking about the messiness of the world! So, in the Dreams of Chaos section, we’re talking with creatives, artists, innovators, and other professionals about how they engage with chaos in their own work. Does it define what they do? Why do they want to mix things up, if that’s what they want? Upcoming editions will be conversations with Katherine Studley, accountant to OnlyFans dancers, and MI Leggett, a designer creating high fashion that’s completely recycled.
These are paywalled — both to keep the trolls out and because they take a great deal of time to put together. Recent editions:
Part 3: Chaotic Conversations
What good is it to just read about how folks are engaging with chaos when we could learn from one another as well? These forums are a place to talk about messy topics in a safe space. Currently, these Chaotic Convos are free as well — although I may paywall them if we find too many bots n’ trolls about. Here’s an example:
Part 4: Reported Essays
THE WORLD IS CHAOS! Chaos in the Wild is a section with reported essays that explore why nothing can be categorized, despite the human instinct to do so. I haven’t completed any of these yet, but I have some interesting things cooking up here, like a piece on anger I’m pretty excited about. These will also be paywalled because, hey, I’m workin’ here.
So that’s pretty much it, folks. Will you join me for the ride? Will you contribute a comment or a share to help more people come along for the adventure? I hope so.
Sending you all my love,
Mikhal