Author: nanimov

A lot of the classifications and opinions we hold are more indicative of ourselves than of the innate qualities of that which we are judging. Boring people are bored easily. Interesting people are interested easily. If your mind has a default mode, that’s going to influence your experiences. Which is good news if you ever decide make appreciation your default mode. If you are looking for the beauty in your experiences or looking for something to love about the people you interact with, you will find it.

Was talking with some buds yesterday about the whole thing of whether or not we should seperate art from their artists, specifically thinking about artists who are or were terrible people or did terrible things. The more I think about it, the less I think we should. Anytime we support the artists (not just monetarily), we in some way contribute to this culture that turns a blind-eye to injustice and to the suffering of others. Yes it’s possible to enjoy a song and still advocate against paedophilia, domestic violence, racism, etc. but the person is still associated to that thing we like. And I could be wrong, but it feels like at least subconsciously that makes us a little less critical of artists and their actions.

Agree? Disagree?

It seems like some jobs were made for specific people, or vice versa. For any given occupation there’s a stereotypical person that fits it. I can’t help but think that a lot of progress and advancement has been lost because of that. A lot of people think they are meant for a certain occupation because of their personality or interests, and they pursue careers based on that. On the other side, employers have a vision of their ideal candidate and interview and hire based on that. Innovation is facilitated by diverse perspectives, but how do you convince the world that things don’t have to be a certain way.

In high school one of my teachers had us a do a journal exercise where we were supposed to just write for 15 minutes. The goal was to continuously write for the whole time. It didn’t have to go anywhere or mean anything you just had to write. And that’s what I’m doing write now.

There are a few things that have been occupying my mind today. On the forefront and for somewhat obvious reasons is work, primarily my work with Doctors Without Walls. There’s a lot of stuff to keep track of… people, appointments, documents, deadlines etc. and it can be hard to keep it all straight. Whether or not I’m getting into medical school this year has also been weighing on my mind mostly in the sense that I just want to know what the final verdict is so I can stay planning more concretely rather just sitting in limbo. Next up is the anticipation of a special visitor who’s coming in a couple weeks and going to be around a while and I can’t wait.

I known I said I was going to start on that new series, I just haven’t had a opportunity to sit down dedicate that time that I want to it. But I need to do one soon or it will never get done. I’ve been spending too much of my free time doing other things.

I haven’t been keeping track of time but I think I’ll end here ’cause I’m pretty sleepy.

A few days ago I was talking with a good friend of mine about how small events from our childhood have such huge impacts on our perspectives as adults. Sure there can be singular decisive moments, but the small moments are just as important. Seeing how your parents interacted with and treated other people; what you got praised and shamed for; what types of chores you did; how people around you used their money. As kids, we’re like lil sponges just taking in all this information which then informs our own perspectives. As we grow older each new experiences is a smaller percentage our life’s sum. But it still adds up, and so I want to be mindful about the experiences I seek and the people I surround myself with.

I took a class back in university that was primarily focused on thinking about why we believe what we believe. One of our assignments was to essentially track how our position on a specific rule or law aligned ultimately with our position on the nature of the universe. This class forced me to reckon with a lot of cognitive dissonance that I tried to resolve one way or the other.

I realized that recently I haven’t really been good about knowing why I believe what I believe and I’m overdue for a check-up on my cognitive dissonance. To address this, every now and then I’m going to be posting as part of a series where I go through various, perhaps controversial topics, dive a bit into the literature, and report back. Ideally, I’d love for you the reader to engage in this exploration with me, especially if your views diverge from mine in some way, so we can have productive conversations and hopefully come closer to an understanding together.

I have a couple ideas for the first one, but still undecided and if you have any recommendation let me know. Stay tuned.

Changes happen that are outside of our control. Gotta be able to adapt and flex to accommodate those changes. Sometimes you are the agent of change. Sometimes you go out to get salad and end up picking up fried chicken…shit happens. Never regret; learn, ’cause there’s not pauses or do-overs in life.

I ended my Amazon Prime membership at the end of last year because I wasn’t getting the student discount anymore. The first package I ordered in 2019 took foreeeever. But it didn’t really take that long, just long relative to what I became used to. That goes for a lot of things. Just because I want something really badly doesn’t mean I can get it in two days guaranteed. We are in a time where almost anything we want is on-demand, delivered to your door or at your fingertips. But not everything can be expedited using technology, money, or sheer willpower. Somethings take time. Don’t rush, be patient others, and be patient with yourself.

I love when rain is falling while the sun is shining in a bright blue sky. It’s like a wombo combo of good stuff… the stuff of life. You got water, you got sunshine. The plants must love it too; they’re getting everything they need to grow at once. I wonder what the equivalent would be for me.

If you’re doing something most people aren’t there a good chance your ahead of your time or behind it. Is your work innovative and moving us forward? Or is it clinging on to a world that once was? In both cases you face resistance from individuals, society, technology, culture etc. The question is whether you should push through or change.