We are now on the "ber” months, which
means that my “blog” (since I don’t consider myself a blogger, just a writer
who posts on Blogger because it’s free) has already celebrated its one-year
anniversary of inactivity.
To mark my comeback, I wrote this sequel to
a piece I wrote years ago called Thought Bubbles. As the name implies, it’s a random
list of the things currently brewing in my head. It’s a sampler of what I want
my “blog” Non-Standard Issue to be all about – soul food, real food, and
brain food, seasoned with my own mix of “krung krung.”
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| A perfect spot to think. It's a picture of the Boulder Shore in Batanes. |
1. On
wounds that heal. I learned that broken friendships have more similarities
to burned trees rather than cracked plates.
That sounds like a bastardized proverb and
my friends working in forestry might cringe at my simple analogy. Just that,
the “cracked plate” people say that you can glue the pieces of the friendship back
together, but you’ll still be able to see where it got fractured. But I prefer
to compare it to a patch of scorched vegetation. If the friendship has strong
roots and some seeds are hardy enough to survive, then it can grow back again
into something new.
But when the relationship has already
become repeatedly abusive and hurtful, then it’s time to remember this JFK
quote: “Forgive your enemies, but do not forget their names.” Be kind, yet know
also when it’s time to respect and protect yourself.
2. On showing up. As someone
who eats procrastination for breakfast, I find Mark Manson’s advice in “The SubtleArt of not Giving a F*ck” very helpful. If I want to get sh*t done, then I
should not wait for inspiration before I act. Act and the inspiration will
follow.
3. On
humility. In a world where modern breeds of
Pharisees are cropping up, from the alt-left to the alt-right, Manson has a
good reminder: In life, we can never be perfect, we can only become less
wrong.”
Like the story of the blind men and the elephant, we are only mere
human beings clutching at the ends of the truth. We can fight for the values
and principles we believe in, and still have compassion and open-mindedness for
other beliefs and perspectives as well. Except of course in extreme cases when
it involves blowing people up.
4. On
being kind to myself. There’s a fine line between
self-awareness and being your own harshest critic. I have already racked
frequent flyer points crossing that divide. So this advice from an episode of MarieForleo is very welcome: “Don’t
treat yourself the way you would not like to treat others.”
5. On being real. Two of
the major perils of the Internet are alternative facts (aka fake news) and
alternative reality (aka curated and filtered online life).
Manson nailed it
again when he said that to get more eyeballs, what gets viral in our newsfeeds are those that deal with the extremes – extreme success (under 20-year old
self-made billionaires) and extreme falls (poverty porn I believe falls under
this category). The latter only comprise a small percent of the
population, yet they make people feel so “ordinary”, so they dress up their
social media accounts to get rid of that “ordinariness.” But made-up lives
competing with other made-up lives lead only to a culture of discontent. The
closest cure I can prescribe to myself is the next item.
6.
On digital detox. My goal this year is to try to
stay offline as humanly as possible. The gurus are right – the most successful
people are the ones who can stay focused and manage their time in this day of
endless distraction.
Life was simpler back then. I can just turn
off the TV when it’s hurting my productivity (although back then, and even until now, my idea of a productive day is a day spent reading books :P). But now, with my smart phone and
laptop, work and entertainment now co-exist in the same medium. So it’s time to
fiercely guard my boundaries before I totally get sucked into the rabbit hole
of mindless online browsing and unhealthy comparisons.
7. On
print. One of my discoveries this year is the
magazine B – an ad-less print publication which features one great brand at a
time. Print is not dead; it will just reinvent itself. With the renewed
interest on calligraphy and hand-painted signs and coloring and minimalism,
there’s an ongoing rebellion to go back to the basics. I have read somewhere
that when Paulo Coelho decided to release an online copy of the Alchemist, he
said that if people will like it enough, then they’ll buy a hard copy because
they’ll want to own a tangible piece of art.
On the other hand, maybe I’m just a
nostalgic girl who loves printed and handwritten things too much. Yet, I have
the hunch that as publications cease printing and migrate to the Internet,
thereby making it even more a wild wild west of clickbaits and irritating ads
and comment sections filled with trolls, there are many people (a significant
number I hope) who’ll derive their pleasure from the simple joys of reading from
paper, and who will be willing to pay for great content in a well-designed format
that they can collect.
That may make books more expensive in the
future since only quality ones will get published, which is why we need to
build more communities where people can swap books and make it more accessible
to others.
8. On
the Bitcoin and Blockchain mentality. Although Bitcoin, the currency part,
is the one most hyped about, it’s actually Blockchain, the technology which
enables it, which holds the most potential. I don’t doubt there are people who
made their fortune from Bitcoin but my guess is that most of them are people
who are already in the know. Whereas many investors are just lured by the
promise that they can get rich quickly, without fully understanding how it
works (the nephew of an acquaintance borrowed P100,000 from another aunt so he can invest in Bitcoin).
For me, it’s a reminder not to be swayed by
general sentiments which often glorify short-term gains, but to shrewdly
invest instead on the long-term. Also, for me not to easily dismiss anything as
fraud, but use my researching abilities to find out if they have true potentials
beyond the noise.
9. On
woe-men. I am uncomfortable with how we, women, are often prey to
objectification and sexualization. I went home sobbing one time when I
overheard some guys casually discussing the night bars they frequently visit,
even comparing the prices of the girls – like they are talking about shoes, and
not humans who are probably doing it because they have no choice. It makes me
even sadder when my fellow women condone this act (yeah, based from actual
experience too).
Maybe I’m just a naïve girl in this big,
big world but the #MeToo movement has given me the hope that maybe, things
aren’t so bad, and there are many people out there who are as sick and tired as
me of not getting what we crave the most – R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for ALL women.
That’s it for now. So that I’ll be able to
publish regularly, I’m teaching myself to write shorter (but still with
substance) posts while wrangling with the lengthier ones on the side. My current
mantra is #ProgressNotPerfection.
x
Labels: Musings and Opinions
