About

When I was young, I've always identified myself as some sort of half-ass polymath: I was never the best in school, but somehow did well enough with a fair amount of effort to get by as a "good student".

At its core, I was really just a mixed bag of things, somewhat socially awkward, somewhat clown-like, somewhat arrogant, yet also a model student and a class vice-president at one point in my life.

But of course, that was only just the beginning, and my life had yet to begin...

In my first decade, I used to think that I could be good at just about everything: from school, sports to languages and all sorts of hobbies. That apparently did hold for me, until a series of life events hit one by one, crushing down both my self-image and ego:

To make the matter worse, many of my crushing blows extended beyond my physical body and health as well:

All these together led to one important realization, that my life as it was is unsustainable, and that the skills I've accumulated thus far were really only fit for solving small-scale problems.

If anything, my level of knowledge and the actions I've taken — however well-intentioned they may be — were leading to my own destruction.

Annoyingly, this downward spiral seemed to persist no matter how much helpful resources I exposed myself to, how much motivational things I allowed myself to listen to, and how much actions I have taken to reverse my situation. 

If anything, everything seemed to drive me towards some inevitable cliff that I couldn't avoid at this point — it was a futile struggle.

And then, slowly but surely, my character and habits began to change:

In fact, this would become my primary mode of operation for the years that come after, where with each step I take, I would swallow some painful lesson and numbingly move forward. Occasionally, these lessons would allow me to refine my approach, so that I can devise an adjustment and make a pivot. 

And just like that, the cruelty of life would end up forcing me to stand up on my own — all of the while developing a wide variety of knowledge and skills.

So does that mean that all of my problems are currently solved? Far from it. But at the very least, but I do have a handful of milestones along the way:

Most importantly, throughout this seemingly-endless stream of struggles, I began to see two important themes as I fight for my life at different fronts:

In fact, it's thanks to these two realizations that I was able to climb back from my hole. But as I do, I was hit by another realization:

As it stands, it shouldn't take much to conclude that many aspects of our human activities are highly unsustainable. This doesn't just operate at the individual level, but at the systemic level as well.

Indeed, whether we talk about lifestyle, health, environment or policy, the more time passes, the riskier the world seems to become. This increase in urgency is what led to the birth to The Sustainabilitist, my personal website and my attempt at "giving the world a shot".

So from unsustainability came The Sustainabilitist, whose roles I think are manyfold:

In brief, you can think of The Sustainabilitist as an extension of my struggle towards omni-directionally sufficiency, as it begins to house more and more potential solutions to the problems humans are facing. It's my way of turning my devastations into something constructive, and my way of living a life that is as balanced as it could be.

And if any of that sounds somewhat interesting, then I'd invite you to come along. The knowledge and tools featured on this site come with no agenda other than the will to become sustainable — along with the freedom and harmony that doing so can bring.

Yours truly,

Thomas Lu

Thinker, writer, creator, sustainabilitist