Hey there! My name is Derrick. I’m just someone in their 20’s trying to navigate life and learn about the world. I wanted to break ground on this corner of the internet to share what I’ve learned and my thoughts about the world as I live through it. I have some topics I want to write about and my initial goal for this Substack is for it to read almost like letters to a more naïve me.
For a little about myself: I attended UCSD for biological anthropology and biology with the intention of going into medicine. Still a noble cause but one in which I’ve since abandoned. I worked in the health-tech space at a startup for a year and I’ve been spending the past half year after that learning the things I think would be required for one day starting my own startup. I really want to positively contribute to society and I’ve decided that this would be the highest leverage way to do so. I don’t only want to write about my career though, so I have some plans for essays about personal growth, relationships, hobbies and the small joys in life. And of course, leaving medicine and what I’m doing next.
I draw inspiration for my style of writing from Paul Graham where it’s structured almost like a proof. He generally starts with a question or a hypothesis and tries to reason through it via writing. I read somewhere that even though we have thoughts, they don’t really make sense until we write it out. Said another way, we don’t realize how much we don’t know until we try to put it into words. I also have a general goal to produce more than I consume so this will be my contribution.
I’ve realized so much about this world and life in general and at the very least I want to document it somewhere publicly. I actually keep a doc permanently open on my computer where it operates as a sort of culture deck where I stow away little sayings and lessons from people I look up to. One of them being that there’s still so much more to learn and I know nothing in the grand scheme of things. Included in this would be how I see the world and just how that has changed since high school, through college and now post grad. For example, I think I’ve picked up an appreciation for the little things in life, the feeling of sunlight or the smile of a stranger. All things that I have a newfound gratefulness for.
I’ve tried other mediums for content and while I think I’ll still use those, writing has always been my “comfort medium”. I think I have something like over 500 pages in my google drive of just stream-of-consciousness thoughts dating back to high school. I also think it has the unique benefits that I talked about earlier, enough that it warrants its own post.
Thank you so much for reading! If these posts end up even helping one person I’d be thrilled. I’m still learning how Substack works but I believe you can leave a comment or start a chat so any questions or comments are greatly appreciated!