Push Yourself

I used to dread this time of year. As a kid, and even until recently, the beginning of August signified the ending of so many other things. As every Summer came to a close and school started approaching sooner and sooner, I was always upset that I had to go and learn new things, as if that’s somehow an inherently bad thing. I saw Summer as a chance for me to turn off the knowledge-acquiring part of my brain, depriving it of the vital nutrients in the form of information and activity it desperately craved without me even knowing it. Now, this time of year doesn’t upset me - it excites me.

In two weeks I will have begun my first week of my junior year of college. Most of the summer breaks prior to this one in my life have consisted of very little self-imposed cognitive challenge, but I took a different approach to this summer, and I’m here to share that with you. I’ve decided that self-betterment both in physical and mental health is good, cool, and what we should all be striving for. While not all of my time away from school has been necessarily productive, I’ve made a conscious effort to turn my hobbies and habits into beneficial acts that I enjoy every day. I’ll give you a few examples.

1) Despite being an English major in college pursuing a degree that will enable me to get a job in content writing and management similar to what I’m doing on this blog (another positive thing I’ve done this summer) but instead for a big company, my college requires that I take a Spanish class to graduate. While this antithetical idea used to really bother and confuse me, I’ve decided to instead embrace it. I’ve taken something that used to be a chore and made it fun, because I see it as very useful and even impressive to be multilingual. I’ve “game-ified”, as my dad says, learning the Spanish language, by using DuoLingo’s awesome and addicting lessons and quizzes. This is in no way an advertisement for their site, but I highly recommend it if you are wanting or needing to learn a new language.

2) My and my girlfriend’s family have been attending a weekly trivia night at a local restaurant on Mondays throughout the summer. While I think myself as somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades (and one day master of one: writing), the one category that I really can’t contribute much to is world geography. I just don’t know where countries are in relation to one another, but I’m trying to change that. I’ve been doing non-assigned studying of world maps in an effort to increase my general knowledge in that area, and so far I’m seeing results. If there’s something you feel like you don’t know enough about, go learn it.

3) I think it’s a misconception to associate highly-skilled chess playing ability with high general intelligence, but maybe that is common thought for a reason. I’ve always played chess (see my blog post about that here), but this summer I’ve done a more conscious effort to track my progression and made more of an effort to see improvement in my own game. There’s always more room for improvement and you can always get better at the things you love.

4) When people say that they’ve deleted their Instagram accounts and have felt much happier without them, that confuses me. I understand the damaging effect that needing constant approval and validation via internet points, clicks, and likes can have on people, which I try to avoid like the plague, but I think that these people are viewing the social media site in the wrong headspace. I thoroughly enjoy it and would miss it if it were suddenly gone. I see it as a photo gallery, a scrapbook, something to plan / schedule, and to reflect on regularly which is a lot of fun. Sentimentality and nostalgia can be cultivated along with our natural enjoyment of aesthetically pleasing design to build a gallery to share with the world and to reflect on ourselves. That’s what I’ve done with my Instagram this summer.

There are many more examples of efforts I’ve made to better myself this summer. Instead of reacting and getting flustered by political headlines, I’ve instead created a master document that is a culmination of research, sources, and reasoning that I’m using to place myself in the current toxic political climate. There are plenty of things that I haven’t completely figured out yet, too, like finding a workout plan that suits me, getting a grasp on a healthier sleeping schedule (I’m a natural night owl), or dealing with my general anxiety that affects other aspects of who I am when it’s in full-swing. The point of this post and the point of what I’ve been practicing is that it’s good to push yourself. Life is both short and long at the same time, and taking advantage of the capabilities that you’ve been blessed with should not be taken for granted. Always try your best, always strive for better, always push yourself.

And enjoy the journey.

I Think My Taste In Music Is Changing... And Why That Isn't A Bad Thing

If you had asked me in either middle or high school which musical genres and artists I enjoyed listening to at the time, I would’ve quickly and resoundingly responded with rap and listed whichever rappers were popular at the moment in the music scene. While a bulk of what I was listening to at the time is completely radio-driven and surface level, some of the artists I listened to back then still hold a place in my musical library. Those artists, Kendrick Lamar for example, are still relevant to me today because of the lyrical complexity in their music and their willingness to take risks in sound and production. If you ask me what kind of music I’m listening to now, I have a different answer for you. The only rap that I listen to is introspective, lyrically complex, and has a message bigger than anything surface level. What I’ve been discovering recently is newer hip-hop and rap music just isn’t delivering the emotional depth, story-telling, and soul that I look for in good music, but there are other genres that do supply just that. In short, my tastes are changing.

I first heard Father John Misty’s music when he was a guest on Saturday Night Live in March of 2017. His chilling performance of “Total Entertainment Forever”, one of my favorites of his, intrigued me because it was lyrically complex and unlike anything I had heard before. Misty’s indie folk music performance that night opened a door for me to the rest of his brilliant discography and before long I was at the front row of one of his concerts singing along to every word of every song. Spotify’s recommendations led me to similar artists like Fleetwood Mac, Jason Isbell, and Sara Bareilles, and over time my tastes were slowly moving away from rap and hip-hop. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and listen to a lot of rap music like Travis Scott’s Astroworld and BROCKHAMPTON’s SATURATION trilogy, but these and similar offerings often don’t paint pictures as vivid as a lot of the Americana, indie, folk, and old country music (none of that country pop crap and especially not Old Town Road, don’t even get me started on country rap) that I’ve been listening to lately. For example, Jason Isbell’s “Anxiety” hit me in an emotional spot that no rap music has been able to in a very, very long time.

The point I’m trying to make in this post is that middle school Andy never would’ve pictured that his music tastes could change so dramatically and so quickly, but they have, and that is a good thing. As we garner new life experiences, meet and make connections with new people, and develop in character, our tastes grow and change to reflect that. I find comfort in the fact that I’m maturing and evolving as a person to be able to appreciate new art and music that causes me to feel things and relate to artists that have gone through similar experiences. If you aren’t really listening intently to the music that’s playing, why listen at all? Sure, some music can serve as good background noise at times, but I now think that I relate more with the overall message and contents of the folk/Americana/indie I’ve been listening to than I do with rap, and that is completely okay.

Linked below is a playlist I’ve made featuring the kind of music I’ve been listening to lately. I may be biased, but I highly recommend it. Some of the artists include Father John Misty, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Sara Bareilles, Chris Stapleton, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and many more. Enjoy, and don’t be afraid to evolve!

SPOTIFY LINK: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0rBGrVqtatPXMLPUnbPqiz?si=SMsdK5pnSkWU-le2ELYQdA

The Importance Of Living In A Clean And Aesthetically Pleasing Space

Months ago, at the peak of its popularity, I decided to listen to Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s best-selling book 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos and I, like many, found some helpful tidbits which I’ve incorporated into my daily routines. While I may not agree with Peterson about everything, especially politically, I did find his self-help book helpful, and this post is communicating the concept that resonated the most with me when reading about it, which is “Rule Six” entitled “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”

While this chapter title is rather commanding and upfront, it also has a complexity and depth that works on multiple levels of analysis. Firstly, and most broadly, Peterson is asserting that one has no room to make criticism about their findings in the world if they haven’t already addressed all of the skeletons that may be in their own closets. On this level of analysis, Peterson is making clear that those who are listened to are those who have already proven that they can effectively practice what they’re preaching. The second layer of analysis ties in nicely with lectures that Dr. Peterson has given in the past about cleaning your room. By making the space around you clean and aesthetically pleasing, you prepare yourself a place to leave from and return to that provides stability and pleasure. The first step toward orienting yourself toward a greater goal is laying a unshaken foundation for yourself that inspires a more active lifestyle, including keeping a tighter schedule, maintaining a healthy diet, and finding a goal greater than yourself for that you are able to contribute to daily. Peterson is making a bigger point here, but at the very least to me, keeping a clean space inspires productivity and makes me feel slightly better than if things were askew.

When things are in a chaotic state around me, especially those things that I do have control over but for some reason am not disciplined enough in that moment to take control over, either anxiety, indifference, or general laziness kicks in. Taking control of the space that I live in, keeping things tidy and clean, and making my living space not only aesthetically pleasing for myself but for those I allow in it, make me feel more in control of my environment and encourage greater action, the checking of more to-do list boxes, and better, more creative thinking.

Try to incorporate this idea of cleanliness and productivity in your own life - I hope it helps.