I have been gone for a while; the last entry was written in January. It’s been 5 months. I will spare you the details, but I will share it later, for now here is my piece.
During the hiatus, I have learned a few things about myself and quite a few more which I believe is worth knowing, here are some of them:
Creativity can be lost if not nurtured
I believe that every human being is born equal, we were all born naked, crying and slimy. If in RPG, all of us start at 0% skill level however I also believe that traits can either be inherited or acquired.
In research, I have read that people within the same family tend to have intelligence scores that are within 15 points of each other. This could be true however, if a baby is not properly cared for or malnourished, he/she might not achieve supposed full potential. On the other hand, a supposed average intelligence family who nurtured and cared for their baby, results might be different, you see the picture.
Passion, I have never read anything about passion being inherited, I believe that passion is a result of one’s learning environment and exposure. In some cases, influenced by an event or experience. I have a passion for sports because people around me were really into it when I was growing up, needless to say It’s all we had when we were growing up, we didn’t have any game consoles nor computers to distract us all we had were basketball.
Talents, again no one is born with a set talent, everybody has potential and this is much simpler to explain. Some people are born with greater potential, but without hard work and practice, their talent will come to nothing.
Talent is not in any way inherent, it is learned. Some people say that talent is innate, forget all those myths. Talent is acquired, acquired through constant practice and determination.
As an adult though it registered that none of this matter anymore, with the information I have right now what’s important is how are you using your time to learn something new or nurture what you already have.
I’m saying this because I had to stop writing for a bit due to circumstances, what I have noticed after my break is far more tangible than I realized. My interests have diminished, I always wanted to write but I was too busy doing other things and when I finally got the time I procrastinated, this kept on happening so later on I just had no interest in writing at all, I could not find inspiration in places where I used to look to or find time to sit down and write. The creativity inside of me was slowly fading. Words became harder to manufacture, a lot has changed since then but now I’m trying to get my stride back again.
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” —A. Einstein
Encouragement is strengthening
I started writing around February of last year the website was created a month after, before even creating the website I have written about 4 articles already. The first drafts were really rough but I tried to polish them as I see fit. I published my first work on March to this day I still think that my work could be improved but what’s important is I had the courage to post it and be held accountable for it. Secondly, I always had this idea in my head that no one will ever read my work anyway, so it did not bother me a lot if I was creating garbage, but turns out that was not true at all.
Encouragement goes a long a way, I know……nothing is more strengthening than hearing my peers’ feedback and appreciation with regards to my work. I don’t yearn to seek approval all I need is a chance to, a chance for people to read what I make so I could encourage others to become better versions of their selves.
To truly live in the moment
To live as if it’s your last, is a common phrase you hear, even better the term YOLO (You Only Live Once) is often used when facing uncertainty. This is simply bad advice a misguided formula for disaster and an irresponsible way for detaching one’s self with reality.
If you don’t already know; in Philosophy there are 2 kinds of activity that we as human beings engage in and pursue.
a. Telic activities, from the Greek word Telos, meaning purpose. Something we want to work on achieve and complete for a set period of time.
Examples: Getting a college degree, landing your dream job, buying a house.
Almost anything that we consider a project will be telic, although these can take time and effort, these are all things one can complete and finish. Once you bought that house or landed that dream job you are finished, the end point of that activity has been achieved. Some people might do it again but it is just a close resemblance of what they have already done; in other words, repetition.
Telic activities are important however it comes with a degree of paradox. If one achieves their goal then the journey ends and the euphoric elation generated by your accomplishment will only last a certain amount of time. On the other hand, if you fail, you will be unhappy.
I got my Degree in Health Sciences a long time ago, I was very happy, my parents even travelled 12 hours just to see me graduate and celebrate my achievement, but a few weeks later once the high wore down I found myself wondering what telic activity should I pursue next. Time to get a job.
b. Atelic activities, activities that does not aim to a point of completeness or exhaustion. There is no final state that one can achieve.
Examples: Listening to music, writing, taking care of loved ones, etc.
Atelic activities are done for their own sake. There is no particular end for the activity, it is potentially infinite in every way possible. It is not repetition by any means. You can eventually for the day stop listening to music or hanging out with your friends but you will never ever complete this activity. I started writing not because I want to monetize or brag but because it is pleasurable and meaningful to me.
Arguably the most profound example of an atelic activity is taking care of your family and friends this is something you do for its own sake not because you have an end point to accomplish.
To sum this up,
Telic activities can be exhausted, its aim for joy and happiness depends a lot in your ability to achieve it. We aim to complete them so that we could expel them from our lives. However, it will still be incomplete because the happiness you receive is time bound and dependent on the result not the process, then once the activity is exhausted it is bound to create newer telic activities for us to pursue.
Atelic activities on the other hand provides meaning to live in the present, there is nothing you need more in order to perform your atelic activity, it only needs you in the moment, you are already there it is always complete, its value is not dependent on its ending it is realized now.
This will remind you as to what really makes life meaningful by way of choosing what to act on in the moment at the very least. Our entire existence can sometimes be summed up to nothing but an endless checklist of activities that we try and pursue every day.
I’m tapped out
I have a day job, two in fact, I have martial arts goals, I have weightlifting goals, I continue to write and aspire to be an author, I have relationships to maintain, I take care and help my parents and have a lot of bills to pay. I have a lot on my plate and I don’t ever want to stop pursuing and caring for these things, for now, I cannot add anything else, I’m tapped out.
Maybe finding things along the way will be special but it’s going to be up to future me if I’d want to add more things on my plate, right now I don’t plan to do anything else other than what’s listed above. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry because I know I have been a bad friend to those who I have acquainted myself with, most of the time I am not available whenever they seek me. I know I have neglected a lot of my relationships and that does not exclude my girlfriend, I try my best, but she is even more understanding of me than I will ever be towards myself.
I know these for a fact, but I trust and believe that they are better people than me, because I know that they will always have my back ones I come running when I fall down. Unlike me they are always available not only for each other but also for me. Thank you, I’m still trying to be better, please be patient with me.
XERGIUS 