News: What messes with your head
Keep going
Okay, so for the past eight weeks now, I鈥檝e relentlessly worked on my doctoral thesis. For the most part, I have kept my commitment to myself to write every day 鈥 some weekends, I鈥檝e taken a day off. There are days that the writing feels good, not easy, but I feel driven and purposeful. Then there are days that are just completely hard. Putting a couple of sentences feels brutal and almost torturous. And to think this is self-inflicted 鈥 I applied to be a Ph.D. student.
Embracing the ordinary
I find myself often unable to embrace the routine, everyday activities.聽
Movie reflection: Frances Ha
What can I say? I did not think I would enjoy this film, but I really did. My sister kept urging me to watch it and when I finally did, I couldn鈥檛 help but relate to Frances in more than a few ways. You see, Frances is finding her way through life 鈥 navigating friendships and seeking out her place in life as an adult, especially as she鈥檚 realizing she may not be the ideal and perfect dancer the world of dance demands that she should be if she were to be considered 鈥渟uccessful鈥.
Productivity relativism
Should we be comparing how we manage our commitments?聽
10-minute brain break
Now that winter is here I鈥檝e noticed that I鈥檝e been spending the great majority of all the days of the weeks this month, sitting down. It鈥檚 getting cold and instead of sitting down at a park with my laptop to work on my thesis, I鈥檝e just been working at my desk, in the warm comfort of the indoors.
The cure to bad days聽
We鈥檙e all sad sometimes, that鈥檚 simply part of being human. Maybe it was a rejection, maybe you miss home, maybe it鈥檚 the fancy restaurant you splurged on that turned out to be mediocre 鈥 whatever the reason for your melancholy may be, know that to feel sad is normal and that sometimes, there鈥檚 nothing more comforting than to wallow in it for a day or two.聽
On missing out
I was really looking forward to this night out with friends and so of course, of all weekends to catch a cold and be sick, it had to be this weekend. I felt devastated and I honestly felt like the universe was cruel for letting this happen to me on this weekend. I felt so mad 鈥 after working relentlessly for months, in near solitary confinement conditions, it had to be this weekend that I鈥檓 sick. I felt bad, I felt angry, I felt entitled.
The one thing AI can鈥檛 do
I was feeling bummed after learning that some publications were letting go of their writers and replacing them with AI. A couple days later, pop icon and superstar, Harry Styles, dropped a music video for his song Satellite.聽