I guess I simply noticed that when I spend a lot of time and attention on something, it becomes important to me.
For example, as a Russian person living abroad, I can choose every day to either read Russian domestic news or abstain. If I spend a few days reading news, they start feeling important to my life and kinda unpleasant. Then I stop and it fades away again.
So more generally, when something “meaningful” is making me miserable, I can spend time on something else, knowing that soon enough it will be the new “meaningful” thing. Sometimes it’s hard, if I’m very locked in to the old thing, but I’ve been in that situation many times (miserable about something that feels super important in the moment) and it does get a bit easier with experience.
I guess I simply noticed that when I spend a lot of time and attention on something, it becomes important to me.
For example, as a Russian person living abroad, I can choose every day to either read Russian domestic news or abstain. If I spend a few days reading news, they start feeling important to my life and kinda unpleasant. Then I stop and it fades away again.
So more generally, when something “meaningful” is making me miserable, I can spend time on something else, knowing that soon enough it will be the new “meaningful” thing. Sometimes it’s hard, if I’m very locked in to the old thing, but I’ve been in that situation many times (miserable about something that feels super important in the moment) and it does get a bit easier with experience.