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Notes on Being
Notes on Being is a blog series exploring philosophy, psychology, personal growth, financial behaviour, identity, relationships, culture, and the search for meaning. Through thoughtful essays and practical observations, the series examines the challenges of modern life and how people understand themselves, their choices, and the world around them.
The Blind Spot of Attention
We often think of focus as an unquestionable virtue. But every act of attention leaves something else unnoticed. A frustrating commute through downtown Calgary becomes an unexpected lesson in perception, blind spots, and why the people we judge most harshly may simply be seeing a different part of the road.
Shawn A. Stack
4 days ago5 min read
The Burden of Being Understood
An exploration of how we come to recognize ourselves through pressure, repetition, and relationship. Not as fixed identities, but as roles we unconsciously inhabit and reenact in moments of conflict, care, and uncertainty.
Shawn A. Stack
Jun 265 min read
What Manners Actually Do
An exploration of syntax, beauty, and the quiet role of manners in human formation. This essay examines how the pursuit of efficiency has reshaped our relationship to meaning, and how small acts of relational attention continue to preserve something essential in what it means to be human.
Shawn A. Stack
Jun 195 min read
Shame and the Continuity of the Self
An exploration of shame, love, victimhood, and the formation of identity through relationship. Shame and the Continuity of the Self examines how cooperation, coercion, and love shape our becoming—and how the self maintains continuity not through remaining unchanged, but through honest transformation.
Shawn A. Stack
Jun 123 min read
On Friction and Formation
An exploration of boredom, entertainment, discomfort, and the friction required for genuine transformation. On Friction and Formation examines how modern life keeps us distracted from the difficult but necessary process of becoming.
Shawn A. Stack
Jun 45 min read
Resentment or Regret
Every choice closes doors as much as it opens them. Life is not a path without loss, but a sequence of commitments that shape who we become. This essay explores the tension between resentment for the life you were given and regret for the life you chose—and how responsibility sits at the centre of both.
Shawn A. Stack
May 43 min read
The Secret Medicine of Scarcity
Scarcity is not only a lack of resources—it is a way of seeing. When we misread the signals of depletion, we often reach for consumption instead of restoration, reinforcing the very condition we are trying to resolve.
Shawn A. Stack
Apr 174 min read
Talking to Loved Ones About Debt
Why do people stay in debt or addiction even when the harm is clear? This essay explores the psychological and emotional structure of financial distress, showing how debt becomes both a coping mechanism and a source of moral shame — and why helping requires understanding rather than judgment.
Shawn A. Stack
Apr 94 min read
The Myth of the Manufactured Self
Modern culture encourages us to perform the person we hope to become. But what if that performance comes at a cost? This essay explores Material Salvationism, moral debt, authenticity, and why real growth comes from cultivating character rather than financing identity.
Shawn A. Stack
Nov 28, 20252 min read
Fake It Until You Make It: An Error of Consumer Pride
We've all heard the advice: fake it until you make it. But what if the problem isn't self-doubt—it's the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be? This essay explores authenticity, identity, imposter syndrome, and why genuine confidence is built through honesty rather than performance.
Shawn A. Stack
Nov 25, 20252 min read
The Debts We Don't Acknowledge: Remembrance Day and Men's Mental Health
After watching a documentary about veterans using psychedelic therapy to heal psychological wounds, Shawn reflects on service, masculinity, vulnerability, and the stories men tell themselves. This essay explores why healing begins when we stop hiding from our suffering and start learning from it.
Shawn A. Stack
Nov 13, 20252 min read
What We Lost When We Stopped Imagining
Through the myth of Sisyphus, this essay explores the nature of suffering, labour, and meaning in modern life. It asks what we lose when imagination fades from how we interpret work, struggle, and survival, and whether meaning must be chosen rather than inherited.
Shawn A. Stack
Oct 23, 20253 min read
Trash or Treasure? The Nomadic Life of Possessions
A shopping cart abandoned on a neighbourhood street becomes the starting point for a reflection on possessions, value, and meaning. What makes something “trash” or “treasure”? And how do our belongings shape the way we inhabit the world, long after we are gone?
Shawn A. Stack
Aug 13, 20253 min read
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