DutyWhat I owe
The legitimate obligations to the people, roles and communities that rely on us.
When it rules aloneSelf-erasure, bitterness and contempt.
What gives this life meaning, now?
For the moment after life has changed, when the question becomes: what do I build now?
Life After brings lived experience, philosophy and research to the balance of Duty, Purpose and Self. This is where the book’s ideas continue, in reading, conversation and practice.
Author · advisor · speaker
Working beliefs always subject to evolve
- Multiple solutions to every problem (sometimes “sideways solution”)
- Your brain lies to you, don’t believe everything you think.
- Can’t wax a gibbon without wax / never touch the gear shift unless the clutch is fully depressed
- Something (positive) has to come from strife
- You only get this day once
- Practice gratitude: aka never complain about paying taxes because it means you’re making money
- There is always more to learn, see, do, taste and experience
- You can feel two opposite ways about the same thing, at the same time
- Treat people slightly better than they treat you
- Hard work is an acquired taste
- Positivity is a practice
- Resilience is earned (through repeated acts / thinking), and it is hard work to earn it.
You only get this day once.
From Emily’s working notes.
Three parts.
A life held together.
Each is good. Each can become destructive when it becomes the whole of a life.
PurposeWhat I give
An active contribution beyond private fulfilment, towards something worthwhile for others.
When it rules aloneMartyrdom. A good cause can consume the person serving it.
SelfWho I’m becoming
The work of developing and sustaining a person who can carry both.
When it rules aloneSelf-absorption and exemption from responsibility.
Emily Hunt-Adiletta OBE
LifeAfter
Duty, Purpose, Self
A book in progressProud of the growth.
No credit to the thing that made it necessary.
A life can be damaged without being reduced to that damage.
Through ordinary obligations, worthwhile contributions and the difficult work of becoming someone we can rely on, we can build a life we can stand behind.
About Life After
The reading.
And the living.
I’m a writer, advisor and speaker, asking how we can live meaningfully when the life we expected is no longer available.
My work connects the questions we meet in our own homes with the larger questions of responsibility, contribution and how we live together.
Atlas · the companion
A question.
Your words.
Something to keep.
A weekly question, an answer from Emily, and a growing record of what matters to you. Start with a small moment. Build from there.