You Do Require The Time OFF & AWAY

There’s a twisted appeal to keeping people as tired and bored as they can be. This is not merely “hustling” or “hyperfixating”, which can be meaningful work that is stimulating and regenerative; it is literally self-destruction. This is how you lose touch with your humanity, how you stop making important questions and finding correct answers, how the pain signals and alerts shut down, how you become controllable and convenient. And your reward? Wasting your life while believing that you’re making the most of it.

But whether this programming and conditioning is intentional or not, strategically crafted to keep you obedient or simply misguided attempts to push forward, don’t abuse, neglect, and betray yourself like that. Especially if you’re the type of person whose work revolves around coming up with ideas, thinking critically, and examining your feelings, you ought to unplug. Give yourself a REAL break.

This may mean, even if only briefly:
- Turning off notifications.
- Stepping away from stressful and draining areas and devices.
- Giving yourself a change of scenery.
- Allowing yourself not to carry the world on your shoulders.
- Treating yourself to pleasures you had put off.

Even as a workaholic who dreads a lack of productivity, you could find it worthwhile when it resets you to optimal conditions to be your most productive. Both inspiration and motivation could return tenfold.

The higher the quality of your vacation, the quicker it can restore you.
Just know when enough is enough, so it propels rather than deters you.

New Module: Vacations

Another new module has been incorporated! Well, an extension to an already existing module. It’s another category within the Study Room. Because nobody can do without their due vacations. I’ll be filling it up over time like I’ve been doing with the rest.

So here it is! On the right side column, just at the end of the Study Room.

The Year Got Kickstarted For Sure

From the beginning of this year to what I define as the end of spring, I seem to have reached a closing point to give way to a clear slate. It went sort of like this:

ADVENTURES:
• Reconnecting with the person who helped me mend and grow my spine.
• Oddly and amazingly, crossed paths again with my appreciation for kickboxing and its embodiment.
• Novels I heard of long ago were suddenly brought back up and it was magical to read them again. I may despise other novels in the same genre (or forced/rushed reading in general), but these were so diehard.
• After searching the town for a new place, ended up moving to where I wouldn’t have guessed and it turned out for the better (best location for my preferences). As a bonus, the neighbors are lovely!
• Claiming the soft life with all that it implied and entailed, even beyond my own awareness.

MISADVENTURES:
• Couldn’t be the karma (or was I partly somehow? *shrugs*) to a person who terribly wronged me, but they’ve been self-destructing so… I don’t have to be anymore. I guess? It’s getting pitiful.
• Good manners? What are those these days? Can’t count on them existing. Absolutely baffling the lack of decency. I’d feel foolish but I insist that it’s a them problem. ‘Cause WTH. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?!
• Stalkers can stalk… for a veeeeeeery long time. I don’t get how they’re not bored. I would be on the 5th day. I do not relate at all and can barely wrap my head around it, but glad I know more of the extent of it.
• Our black cat and the stray brown-ish cat we took in became buddies? Maybe he got pestered into it. IDK. But sure lost the cuddliness thanks to that other cat’s restlessness.
• Tech is getting craaaaaazyyy. And that’s an understatement. It’s concerning but I can’t do anything about it other than watch it all unfold. USA and China seem to be racing to cut edge and dominate, though.

It could have been worse. It could have been a seemingly endless, repetitive and tedious period of lame filler. But… getting better at swiftly escaping those at the early signs. This was a plot advancement concise enough. How did it go for you?

Would You Trade Away The Adventure?

I’m often frustrated by the twists of fate, keeping me from making steady progress, and sending me on adventures (I may or may not have signed up for) that might turn out to be misadventures. But when all is done and I can indeed get and be back on track, I do have to wonder. Would I trade that period for more of this, or was it worth it after all?

Of course, I will never excuse, let alone congratulate, anyone for any intentionally harmful mischief that threw me or others off. And I will not prolong a detrimental situation if it can be helped. However, quite often, I don’t leave empty-handed. As usual, there are lessons. Frequently, there are opportunities. And sometimes, there’s much more.

In any case, I never claimed to be an example to follow. If you know me, my M.O. pretty much consists of going off into the unknown, getting in trouble, figuring the way through, and coming out of trouble (with or without aid, with the same or new allies). I do have regrets. Yet, they’re what keep me ever changing and evolving.

New Module: Adventures & Misadventures

A new module has been incorporated! I’ve had to acknowledge that adventures & misadventures are a recurring theme in my work. At least in terms of outlook and attitude, when going through my day-to-day. And because so much comes out of them, good and bad (and “good” and “bad”), I would like to log some of it.

So here it is! On the right side column, just above the Calendar.

Pride Protects Dignity

Pride is messy to have. Gotta have it in the right amount. For the right reasons. And even then, not let it take over you.

Too much pride has undesirable consequences. It can lead to arrogance, which blinds and deludes. It can also grant you an unmerited sense of superiority over others, placing you in a position of comparison. Furthermore, it might cause an attachment to what you’re basing it on, making you overly dependent on it and desperate without it. Pride, left unchecked, can be a lousy attempt at covering up and compensating for what you are, consciously or not, ashamed of or guilty about. It may be a defense mechanism that doesn’t hold up against truth.

However, pride does have a role to serve. Although, in my opinion, there should be a different word for this. See, when what you refer to as “pride” or as being “proud of” it is simply a recognition and appreciation of a fulfilling accomplishment or valuable quality, accompanied by the awareness that it doesn’t necessarily make you infallible, it is more an earned validation that you can give yourself. And when you can rightfully validate yourself, you can go from insecure to secure in yourself. It’s not just mere ego.

If you are constantly under attack… Insulted, mocked, ridiculed, and overall humiliated, the opposing force that commonly deflects or hits back is pride. You may automatically look for whatever you may have that could show or prove your worth. And often, this is fine - when you can keep your clarity and take all as it is. Rather than have your judgment clouded.

Usually, malicious and vicious people are skilled at spotting what would cause you to crumble. Maybe by a general script, knowing that others are normally uneasy about what makes them different from most, what makes them stand out and not quite fit in. And this is the case unless they’ve done the work to be completely unbothered. But maybe it is by being specifically particular about you and your profile, noticing what could shake you up or have you shaking. It’s horrendous and merciless.

So, yes, allow yourself to see all the ways in which you, instead, deserve respect, and to be treated with dignity. Let your pride be valid points and arguments that you can make in your defense. Or that quietly dismisses any undue offense.

Summer Once More

Summer arrives once more...
Do you know what that means?
It means we can slow down.
Take one or several breaks.
Relax, enjoy, and live a little.