This is what I came up with in under 10 minutes:
1. Cook all the recipes in one of Gordon Ramsay's cookbooks.
2. Compose a piano piece.
3. Sponsor a child through an NGO and visit him/her.
4. Knit my own winter socks.
5. Foster dogs.
6. Run my own eating disorders support group.
7. Attend one of Ellen De Generes's shows.
8. Have sex in a swimming pool (private, not public, of course).
9. Go to India, France, and Lebanon, and EAT.
10. Quit smoking.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
I'm bored and restless, but is that a bad thing?
The American culture pushes people to be in constant motion. People always have to be somewhere, always have to be doing something. I feel like the human relationship with time had changed radically since the rise of the Machine during the Industrial Revolution. Humans no longer move at nature's pace, by the passing of the seasons, and the natural cycles of life and planets. Everything is so sped up and discombobulated. And that's how I feel - frazzled, out of synch, disconnected. For me, these time pressures disconnect me from my natural rhythm and leave me feeling further and further behind. In this advanced, highly complex society, I find myself rushing to keep up, destroying my own sanity.
I want to reconnect with my natural rhythm. Like animals. Animals accept their own state of being and that of others; they live for the moment. Likewise, plants cycle gracefully through life as they emerge, bloom, flourish, then wither away. Humans have such a violent need for control and a crippling inability to accept their own state of being. Anti-aging cosmetics, plastic surgery, "mid-life crisis", all imply the incapability of acceptance - a need for change.
America is all about making money and keeping busy. It makes many people, including myself, feel a sense of diminished success. It pathologizes idle, resting time, calling it "laziness" and a "waste of time". In Nepal, people dedicate 8 hours of their day gathered around drinking tea, appreciating another day of life and togetherness. America doesn't even want to take a break to eat, being the largest fast-food consumer in the world. Even communication is harmed by the technologically-crazed culture and the need for "efficiency". The problem with that in modern culture is that efficiency is synonymous with speed. This affects people's tolerance and the quality of language and communication. I'm going off topic.
Back to the idea of keeping busy, I have been having trouble doing so. I spend the majority of my days watching Netflix and journaling. I've watched many episodes and many seasons of many TV shows, my journal is running out of pages, and the couch has a crater where I sit. Recently, I started practicing more piano, but it's been difficult due to lack of inspiration. I need some inspiration. I should be getting a response from my job interviews within the next couple weeks, and IF I get hired, I will have a work schedule which means I will be able to commit to volunteering for an amazing organization called School on Wheels. Maybe that will get me inspired. Who knows. Basically, this fast-paced, "efficient", and need-to-be-busy culture causes me anxiety and distress. I just want to move at my own natural pace, free of guilt.
I want to reconnect with my natural rhythm. Like animals. Animals accept their own state of being and that of others; they live for the moment. Likewise, plants cycle gracefully through life as they emerge, bloom, flourish, then wither away. Humans have such a violent need for control and a crippling inability to accept their own state of being. Anti-aging cosmetics, plastic surgery, "mid-life crisis", all imply the incapability of acceptance - a need for change.
America is all about making money and keeping busy. It makes many people, including myself, feel a sense of diminished success. It pathologizes idle, resting time, calling it "laziness" and a "waste of time". In Nepal, people dedicate 8 hours of their day gathered around drinking tea, appreciating another day of life and togetherness. America doesn't even want to take a break to eat, being the largest fast-food consumer in the world. Even communication is harmed by the technologically-crazed culture and the need for "efficiency". The problem with that in modern culture is that efficiency is synonymous with speed. This affects people's tolerance and the quality of language and communication. I'm going off topic.
Back to the idea of keeping busy, I have been having trouble doing so. I spend the majority of my days watching Netflix and journaling. I've watched many episodes and many seasons of many TV shows, my journal is running out of pages, and the couch has a crater where I sit. Recently, I started practicing more piano, but it's been difficult due to lack of inspiration. I need some inspiration. I should be getting a response from my job interviews within the next couple weeks, and IF I get hired, I will have a work schedule which means I will be able to commit to volunteering for an amazing organization called School on Wheels. Maybe that will get me inspired. Who knows. Basically, this fast-paced, "efficient", and need-to-be-busy culture causes me anxiety and distress. I just want to move at my own natural pace, free of guilt.
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