Despite Melbourne’s lockdowns and not seeing my family, I think this year has been my favourite year of my life so far.
Had great conversations. Developed closer friendships. Tried new things. Exercised more. Read good books.
There were terrible moments, for sure. But with time and hindsight, they’ve become valuable lessons for the future.
Bring on 2022.
I don’t think I’m a spontaneous person.
My roadtrips have itineraries. My days have plans. My workouts fit into weekly schedule. When my plans are interrupted, I become irritated.
Spontaneity implies a lack of control; a willingness to walk out on the street naked and take whatever the world has to offer. There is a part of me that craves certainty and will cry out if denied it. Thus, spontaneity has always felt unnatural.
But spontaneity also leaves space for wonder, surprise and having your mind changed in unexpected ways.
Recently, I’ve been reading books I purchased from op-shops (I have a compulsive habit of buying second hand books because the Asian side of me can’t resist a bargain). Many of these books I hadn’t heard of before, but bought them anyway because they seemed interesting.
Reading these books have been delightful. Opening the cover and diving into someone else’s world is always a unique experience, and doing it whilst having no expectations is even better.
One book I’m enjoying right now is How Proust Can Change Your Life. It’s a biography mixed with a self-help manual and is surprisingly funny. Wisdom flows from every page of this book, ranging from topics like suffering, relationships and how to be a better reader. Not knowing what this book was about made these lessons even richer.
Spontaneity is scary and unpredictable. But it is from these voids of uncertainty where the most surprising revelations can be found.
Almost every action is accompanied by risk.
Exercise puts you at risk of injury. Driving puts you at risk of accidents. Stock trading puts you at risk of market fluctuations.
The risks are significant, and the level of risk is often proportional to the possible outcomes.
A light workout might be easy, but a hard workout is what makes you stronger. Walking to work might be safe, but driving to work is far quicker. Putting your money in a savings account might feel secure, but you could make much more on stock exchanges.
The risks hurt but the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
There are infinite possible paths out there. What game are you reluctant to put your skin into?
From the musical Hamilton:
When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game
But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game
Oh, you get love for it
You get hate for it
But you get nothing if you wait for it
Recently, I’ve experienced lots of little stresses in my life.
Sink is broken. Car got hit. Low on money. The list goes on.
It sucks in the moment. You feel like your world is slowly crumbling beneath your feet and that it’s conspiring against you. You wonder why you have such bad luck.
But after a while, the stress passes and you realise it was never that big of a deal. And when it’s gone, you wonder why you freaked out so much in the first place.
Our instinct is to overreact. Most times, there’s no need.
It will be fine.
I occasionally get asked, where do you get your writing ideas from? Good question.
Usually, my ideas are taken straight from my journals then refined into a simple one-minute idea. Because I write down my thoughts daily, there’s rarely a drought for things to share.
But sometimes, nothing clicks. Maybe none of my scribblings feel interesting or unique enough, or I feel like something fresh. That’s where goldmine sources come in.
Goldmine sources are places you visit to find new ideas. These could be books, videos, blog posts, or talking to people. The point of these sources is to find ideas that you resonate with, from people you respect. The purpose of this could be to share content yourself, or just to change the way you think.
My goldmine sources are predominantly blog posts. I adore blogs, especially ones that are well written and have similar interests to myself. Three goldmine blogs I read on a weekly basis are:
Whenever I’m in an idea drought, I often browse these blogs for inspiration. The writing is clear, succinct and the ideas are powerful.
Inputs determine outputs. Having goldmine sources to continuously feed you with ideas is one of the most important ways to be a stronger thinker.
There are many potent teachers that can transform your thinking.
Choose them wisely.
One of the funnest things about writing online is the response.
How many people will find this interesting? Who will this resonate with?
Who will have the plots of their stories shifted and nudged by my ramblings?
As a creator, you never know how your ideas will be perceived. They could be forgotten instantly, or totally surpass your expectations. I love receiving emails from readers about a post I thought no one would ever read.
Every idea is a seed. When we share them, we don’t know where they will land. We can only hope they find fertile soil.
The possibilities are intoxicating.
I am stuck in a room with two cats.
Well, stuck is the wrong word. I forced myself to stay in this room to write a blog post, and my Airbnb’s two cats just happen to be in the same room with me.
One of the cats is a British shorthair called Pinot. Pinot is lazy and demanding. It likes to lie in an armchair and either sleep or stare at you with its yellow eyes.
The other is a ragdoll called Baijiu. Baijiu is curious and active. It likes to follow you around and jump on the kitchen counter when it smells something cooking.
I was in the middle of writing a serious post, but these two cats kept distracting me. One time, I looked up and Pinot was staring at me with a deathly look in his eyes. I was very amused. A few minutes later, Baijiu kept walking in circles around the room and knocked on the furniture. It was impossible to stay focused. And so, I gave up writing my post and just watched them instead.
I’ve never really observed cats up close before, so the last ten minutes have been educational. And the biggest thing I’ve learnt is that it is impossible to understand cats.
Pinot and Baijiu are very different creatures. One purrs when you scratch its head; the other shies away. One walks up when you call; the other ignores you. They are almost complete opposites to each other.
Asking “what are cats like?” is like asking “what are humans like?”. It depends. Just like people, there are smart cats, dumb cats, shy cats, outgoing cats, quiet cats and loud cats. It is impossible to generalise. To do so would be disingenuous and lazy.
The possible personalities are endless.
Material objects have half-lives.
We know how old things are because carbon-14 loses half its mass every 5,730 years. Measuring this radioisotope lets anthropologists and geologists date fossils and specimens up to 50,000 years old.
Ideas have half lives too.
The Old Testament was written over 2,000 years ago and is still being discussed today. There were many texts written that time as well, but most have been forgotten.
On this blog, there are posts from years ago that still get traffic, and others that barely get read at all.
How an idea is presented is important. If we hope to change the world, we should plan to find a medium and message where the impact lasts more than a few seconds.
Anything less, and it will be forgotten in no time.
Are not the most righteous. They are not the funniest, the smartest, nor the most charming.
My favourite characters are the complex ones: those with contradicting natures, where one part of themselves is at war with another. The moment you think you understand them, you are proven wrong.
They make you feel uneasy because you do not understand them, and you never will.
Rasknolnikov from Crime and Punishment is an amazing character. His desire to murder a wicked pawn-broker for an altruistic goal is in conflict with the moral consequences. The tragedy of the book comes from this chaotic dilemma. If he was too far leaning one way, he would be too one-dimensional, and the story would lose its magic.
It feels natural to like predictable characters, ones that always behave in expected ways. We feel safe around them, reassured by our mastery over their behaviour. They are also often the boring ones.
A person who can hold multiple morals at the same time is much more impressive. Difficult? Yes.
Interesting? Certainly.
We tend to only notice the bad ones. Injuries. Death. A stroke of terrible luck.
But we’re surrounded by plenty of good accidents as well. And often, we neglect them for these grim ones.
To be born where we were. To have had the parents we had. To be able to read and imagine. To have friends to connect and laugh with. These are all accidents with amazingly good outcomes.
A few days ago, I landed a new job. It’s one I’m excited for as it’s related to my interest in oncology, has many learning opportunities and pays well.
It’s also one that resulted from the most absurd circumstances, involving me moving from Perth to Melbourne, taking a gap year, meeting my partner, and having my clinical placement at one particular hospital.
There are many accidents we could rage at. But also many to be thankful for.
