“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. So we must stretch ourselves to the very limits of human possibility. Anything less is a sin against both God and man.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
Floating through the rough waves on the internet. I found myself stuck on the creative and intrapersonal development side of Youtube. At first it was journaling, up until I found myself fascinated from Van Gogh's works which gave me a spark of creative production to produce my own inspired work based on the man's style. These videos connected me eventually into random hobbies which up until now will pop-up here and there. Mostly in which I've never heard of or at least have encountered before but does not really suit my personality.
The specific video which led me to doing this project was from here and...
I personally think for myself that I do not have a knack for being a polymath. But rather the process of doing these things is what keeps me happy and "complete."
I get to cross reference unrelated topics and keep the neurons in my brain engaged to where if I become aware that I'm suddenly daydreaming, I feel as if that the cosmos and I are one, and that every action I do will effect the future of which that action lies into. Which frankly, seems to connect about the act of painting. Or just thinking in general.
In which when you engage discourse with yourself. You unlock areas within yourself based on the data you have on the past and using it for discovering something new. Which also reminds me a lot of rock climbing, I don't engage in this sport. However, it is fascinating that when you can lay out a certain analogy over a certain situation, your mind tends to explore other areas in which you are more familiar or comfortable with.
Mind Mapping is what a modern day individual would usually use to sort out thoughts like these, but this does also remind me of a famous polymath who has made his thoughts known throughout.
Leonardo da Vinci, the world-renowned painter of the Mona Lisa, made significant contributions to the field of science, and was a brilliant engineer. His notes are phenomenal, as the fundamental reason of the purpose of his notes were for them to be useful to him to figure out questions in life that this man wanted to know the answers to. And in a sense, it was full of different subjects/fields of study.
He's not the only one exclusive to be coined with this term. However, he is certainly had the biggest impact ever.
The Three C's are words derived from latin. While A, which stands for Academia, is greek.
I once tried to balance everything that I've been finding interesting to do in life in one entire weekend. Guess what? I came to school on Monday exhausted, unmotivated, and self-deprecated for the entire day.
And so, that night after school, I asked for advice on one of the servers I joined on Discord, and what reply I got was based on a youtube video that basically said...
"True balance in life does not exist, it is a matter of where you shift your focus when you prioritize what's more important to you by the season."
This really changed how I approached the things I do in life and how I would get to balance them properly. Instead of doing it all at once, set a few days or an entire week focused on this specific aspect of your life. And over time, you have essentially maxed out this aspect of your life only from this specific time period in which you've set for it to develop.
The physical body, is the primary container or bird cage for our little brain. And in a sense, the more we strengthen this bird cage that our brain is living itself under, the more comfortable it becomes to where it can become more productive on many, if not, all aspects of our cognitive function.
I can also think of it like upgrading our computer parts but instead of replacing the parts directly, we're indirectly doing so by eating healthy and getting physically active.
You are what you surround yourself with.
You are what you eat.
Two of the most common, or some people even say cringey, quotes in which people usually underestimate. But really, the world can become a reflection of us, and our sense of self can also become the reflection of what we perceive of the world. If you surround yourself or consume information in which you would admittedly regard as pointless or a waste of time, then the time you've spent knowing that information will be gone. You've traded something in which you can immediately discard for something priceless. That does not rationally add up. But it's also sad to say that this is most observable in the modern world. Short-form content and numbing yourself to videos in which you know this is not what you should be doing. It's worrisome.
Which is why I have surrounded myself both literally and digitally to information which gives me an incentive.
My room looks to be a lot more of like an office than it is comfortable to sleep on. Or at least, that's what I like to think about it. It has my books in which I read, usually with the intent of realizing what the theme or lesson is contained from that book. That way, the information is something that I can retain a lot more dynamically and is more fluid and versatile in specific or vague situations in which I tend to contemplate every now and then.
My phone has an app in which has summaries on self-help books, and has also been helping me get over my procrastination. To where, if my "body" wants to waste time, then at least the information in which I can pick up from wasting my time can become of value for me. Check it out!
Untapped creativity and imagination without an outlet to free itself from its containment is a waste of both self-discovery and outside recognition. And in the case of being able to act out an activity in which requires you to reach a certain state of mind will actively work out your mind. Which is a good thing, since it's healthy dopamine! and not the kind in which you get when you procrastinate, scrolling on TikTok or Instagram reels for 6 hours.(speaking with experience)
And another "cute" detail for this would be that your inner child would be happy when you do these type of activities. And especially when you're bored, you become hungry for these types of activities in which your mind... let's just describe it as having a mukbang lol.
School, if it wasn't obvious enough, helps us acquire a lot of social connections. These people, in which if you know them well enough, can make or "break" you in the future that you're building. So choose your friends in school wisely!
Our education is one of the priorities that we all have in the world or at least we have undergone before. And it allows us to have an opportunity to have a better chance to get in at a sustainable and less risky socio-economic situation in today's society.
WE GOTTA GET A JOB! HOW DO WE GET A JOB?
WE GOTTA GRADUATE FROM SCHOOL! HOW DO WE GRADUATE?
WE GOTTA STUDY IN SCHOOL! HOW DO WE STUDY IN SCHOOL?
When you don't feel like doing one thing over the other for the time being, it's refreshing! And that I get to enjoy the benefits of preserving my well-being from this activity. Another thing I have observed currently is that I have something in which I can share of towards others, and I reflect to myself the fact that I did all of this and it's value to me is priceless. To where that sense of not being able to recognize yourself really is a good feedback to "roughly" measure out growth is vital information to me. And that feeling of worthlessness is just gone.
for the young ones out there like me, I highly recommend you to do this. Especially if you're 14-18 years of age. Since the energy levels you can output are immeasurable!
The quote "A jack of all trades is a master of none." by William Shakespeare has become quite popular once again. But with the introduction of the full quote "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." With this full quote that not everyone was aware of, it has slightly shifted the perception of society in which has erupted change on how we should live our lives.
People in this day and age, just from observation alone(don't get me started with the research papers lol), everyone's activity has been mainly online, specifically social media. Social media isn't bad, too much of it is. In a sense, we have now all been stuck on using them for too long. This is especially a pivotal time period for us adolescents in which instead of self-discovery, and asking the "right"(heavily reliant on one's perspective, and asking the question "what matters to you the most in life?" after realizing we don't live too long that much with the time we have here on this planet) questions. We distract ourselves from answering this uncomfortable question and procrastinate on it.
I, for one have realized that living life the way I lived it would leave me a lot of regrets. I started to imagine myself in my retirement home when I'm in my late elderly stages in life, in front of my grandchildren, asking me about the stories in which involve me or something else in which I've witnessed. But then the current me, as much as how talkative I am right now, I couldn't answer this hypothetical entity that I was imagining. And it broke me, it felt shameful. And through this, I finally had a reason to commit to this act. Because after stumbling upon that video, I never really took it seriously enough and thought that it was just not for me. But through my thoughts and just narrowing down what I have attached myself into this life that I currently have, Eureka!
I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading, I am currently busy for my academic ventures since I'm about to finish this grade (11) at the month of May. And this blog took me 2 months of preparation and anger management classes, as well as all the things I did in between were the puzzle pieces that I needed to connect and to finally publish this!
I would appreciate you leaving a comment, anything! I would love to hear your thoughts from this work that I've invested for a while!
Sources:
Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk
And others... are from my phone and edited in canva -
