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Thursday, April 30, 2015

exitus

It's the last day of April, and for me, the last day of the semester.  Hallelujah.

Everywhere I turn, people are packing up and moving out. Finishing classes, saying goodbyes, graduating, moving on to different things...
The world is abundant with endings today.
And as humans, we tend not to like endings.  In general, we think they're sad.
Except for endings like strenuous runs or hard classes, which are victorious.

But here's a little secret about endings.  We need them.

We need finish lines and goals and even the goodbyes.  Without them, we would accomplish much less, under-appreciate most things, and sell ourselves short in almost every way.  And life, even though it goes on, would lose much of its savor.

Endings push us beyond the limits we put for ourselves.  One excellent example is the story of Florence Chadwick, a brilliant swimmer who enjoyed pushing the limits.  She swam the English Channel both ways, and had decided to do a long-distance swim along the coastline of California.  It was a foggy day, and she swam for hours despite barely being able to see the support boats alongside her.  After fifteen exhausting hours, she finally relented to the chilly water and her aching muscles, and asked to be pulled into the boats.  They continued to land and discovered that Florence had swum all but half a mile of her intended distance.  Upon learning this, she said, "All I could see was the fog.  I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it."

Image result for Florence Chadwick

Setting a goal and seeing the finish line helps us to dig deeper within ourselves and push through the tiredness, the aches and pains, and whatever else comes our way.  Going on an endless swim into the ocean, we're more likely to sell ourselves short and stop before we realize how close we are to achieving our goals.

The other opportunity that endings afford us is a moment to reflect back on what we've done and who we've become.  It's usually the most natural time for people to say things they should have been saying all along: "Thank you for being a good friend," "I'm glad to have you in my life," "You are a quality human being and I hope you have a wonderful life."  You know, those things that your friends might write in a yearbook, given they actually know you and are sincere about the things they write in yearbooks.  Without the goodbyes we have to say, I fear we would take a lot more relationships for granted.  We would fail to express our appreciation and respect for each other like we should.  Our relationships would be much less fulfilling on the whole if we never had to face the reality of saying goodbye.

When we realize that endings come and at some point, we must all be left, or leave ourselves, I think we gain a better understanding of how valuable the present moment is.  We tend to spend our time better, realizing that it will come to an end.  We won't always be at this place, with these people, doing these things.  We'll have to move on some day.  And turns out, that day is rapidly approaching.

So as much as we must seize the day, I find that we must also embrace the endings.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

dimensio

I've been somewhat inundated with thoughts lately and don't even know where to begin.

I suppose it all started when I realized just how much school had taken over my life, to the extent that I didn't have time anymore to do 'normal human' things.  Read: I didn't have time to do the things I love.
Granted, I had realized this stuff for a while or so before I ended up doing anything to fix the problem.  I've since been much better at writing a little bit every day, playing soccer when I can, and even having friends. :D
It helps, of course, that the homework is over.  And that I would go insane from studying for finals if I didn't take those breaks.

But one of the things that I have noticed in this shift in my life is just how different a person I am based on the things I'm doing in and with my life.

A quick Venn diagram, if you will:



Gotta love those Venn diagrams.

So basically, when I allow school to consume me and fail to make time for other people...I feel like a robot that does homework all day, rather than a human being.  And it takes a huge toll.
I will not deny that a large part of the paucity of posts lately is due to this robot's failure to have ideas worth writing and expanding and sharing.

So I was talking with the Dean of my college recently and one of the things she said about the intent of our education is for us to become three-dimensional people.  Colleges are really good at spitting out one-dimensional people, who know their stuff and can do a great job at engineering or math or teaching literature or singing...whatever it is that they've been studying now for years.  But a large part of our education should be to enhance that dimension of ourselves with other dimensions.  To learn how to communicate across other disciplines and to see how our area of focus can help other areas or can be developed by other areas.  To have experience in differing fields, and that even though you've dedicated all you are to this one great discipline (in my case, engineering), you should still be able to say that you make time for hobbies and you like to find new interests.  You have a grab-bag of skill sets because of all the volunteer projects you've helped with, and you're able to understand more of the world because you've taken the time to see it from more than just one angle or dimension.

Not to mention that three-dimensional people just stand out. ;)

So I've been having greater success at that lately, and it's true; it makes you feel more real.

Monday, April 20, 2015

narro

I am being productive and writing things!

Mostly this is a brief public service announcement that even though the blog doesn't get the authorial attention it deserves, that doesn't mean that I'm not writing things.

Although those of you who know me know that I can get dreadfully behind on my writing...

Here is a quick poem because it's still National poetry month. It details how I actually write a lot of stuff without actually writing it.

Recording

For the most part I fail to record.
Which explains why so little reward
comes from poems I may put out,
whatever lyrics I may shout,
whatever reason or rhyme I am without.