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Category Archives: Personal
Post-Graduation Stress Disorder
Umm…my underage freshman year
I don’t remember this but look how young y’all look (and Hank shaved for the occasion)
This is the more typical Hank look
When ya’ll lived at Duren, and it snowed that year. 500 car accidents the next day.
Typical Waterford shenanigans
Football season – of course never Hank or Shakshi
Yep, we outlasted y’all…
…rising seniors (the new Plastics) who learned from this group to not take things too seriously and simply enjoy being students at THE greatest university on earth \m/
Danny Zeng | May 22, 2013
I spent the last week or so with some of my closest friends in college. Many have graduated over the weekend. Yes I’ll admit it. Part of me feels sad, but it is in the selfish sense that I know that they won’t be around next year for me when I need them (and yes, that’s what true friends are for; they are the chosen family, support system, the wolf pack, insert your own descriptive phrases that capture the same sentiment). Another part of me simply feels numbing: perhaps it’s the drag of the school year, pending end-of-the-semester to-do lists, the stress of dysfunctional politics – OK it’s probably just me…, or simply fatigue and lethargy. I have been sleep deprived from playing way too much Nintendo 64 – that one of us purchased from a Craigslist guy (mhmm) – where I played more tennis (umm Mario tennis) than all the years I’ve been in college. My sleep schedule has been more off-cycle than usual as result of 1) absentmindedly pushing to maximize my time with my graduating seniors; and 2) obsessively glued to Netflix watching House of Cards (that will be a different post in and of itself). I’ve been undoubtedly gaining weight due to poor diet and little exercise, which probably contributed to my general fatigue. This reminds me the importance of self-care for all my graduating seniors! Please eat healthy, exercise often, and sleep plenty. Your health is your seed capital for success in the enterprise of life. I think the most apt description of my current state of mind is faithful optimism, simply having faith in the notion that people and things will turn out to be OK.
My friend walks across stage for her graduation in Government
A roaring sea of black gowns and decorated caps, competitive rounds of whoas and ahhhs for graduates walking across stage, chatty professors in their scholastic robes, clacking of high heels (or the swag of boots trotting about ), layers upon layers of makeup – for the gazillion amateur clicks of professional camera shutters, the pestering yet loving entourage of parents, siblings, extended families and friends, the dormant yet nonetheless tangible mixed emotions of happiness, apprehension, relief, earned success, camaraderie, reciprocity and gratitude have all filled the sultry summer air on commencement night with heavy hearts.
Longhorn families
Think about all the people who ever supported our grads, financially, emotionally, and psychologically. For some, their kids’ graduation from college is the last chapter in what sometimes seems to be a never-ending, very sad, handwritten book (…) With two decades of hard work behind them in raising these graduates, a million-dollar investment, the parents, no doubt, becomes highly emotional during this thoroughfare. After all, college graduation serves as the closure. In fact, if you’d have the same opportunity of witnessing more than 10,000 people sharing that moment together like I did at the UT Austin commencement, then you’d appreciate the rational ubiquity of emotional outbursts.
Commencement 2013 at the University of Texas at Austin | May 18th, 2013
The minute the fireworks shot up into the Austin sky, my heart skipped a beat, and my eyes grew watery. Can this be it for my friends? It seems only yesterday when I met each and every one of them. Those moments of fateful encounters – some might say chance occurrences, but I never found that proposition convincing – seem so removed from the larger reality of graduation, a milestone, a crown achievement, a relief, a “meh.” “One more year this will be me,” I thought. I wondered what each of them was thinking at the time. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, “graduation can’t all just be the rah-rah cheers, fancy restaurants, loud music, and bottomless shots (well…)”
That moment – that night really – I realized what a true excitement it is for the University to graduate more than 8,000 Longhorns into the world to change it for the better! This is a cause for celebration! Graduates are challenged with the task to do just that: make the world a better place. Or in the case of UT, “to transform lives for the benefit of society.” I can’t wait to see what each of them will accomplish in the near and distant future. Among my circle of graduating seniors, there will be a lawyer, a doctor, an educator, an engineer, a business analyst, and a community leader. Each has the ability, the heart, and the humor to change the world in his/her own way. How ordinary an occurrence but extraordinary a thought!
I have nothing but the best wishes and my most deep-felt prayers for each of them as they enter the real world. It will be an adventure of a lifetime, literally. Like I alluded before, I don’t believe in chance encounters. I fundamentally believe there is a reason that God has put them in my life. I believe God has a purpose for each one of them. And I believe that God will care for and guide them through life’s many trials. Not only do I believe so, I know so. My faith gives me both optimism and relief: I know they are in good hands. These people are my chosen family in college. They will remain my chosen family in life and for life. I am sincerely excited and extremely optimistic for this group of passive-aggressive jokesters, high achievers, and leaders. The first generation of Waterford crowd had graduated. I shall leave them all with the following passage from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Oh the Places You’ll Go!, that my fifth grade teacher had once read to us 🙂 – you’d never go wrong re-reading Dr. Seuss.
Rockstars
On and on you will hike
and I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
To answer my own question, of course, this is not it for my friends. They have a long way to go. There will be lots of excitements, triumphs, disappointments, and yes failures; but the joy of friendship will live on. And just for the record: I don’t really suffer from post-graduation stress disorder (this is not real). I’m simply trying to treasure and preserve the memories that I’ve made with these peeps over the last few years. For these grads – Hank, Shakshi, Wesley, Nayana, Katie, and Simon – who are already changing the world and will continue to do so, I am faithfully optimistic.
Love,
Danny
What’s Enough?
I just finished John C. Bogle‘s book Enough: True Mesures of Money, Business, and Life, a wonderful novella (very readable) reminding us about what’s important in life. Fortune magazine had once named Mr. Bogle as one of the four “Investment Giants” of 20th century. Time had named Mr. Bogle as one of the Top 100 most powerful and influential people in the world. In his latest book, yet, Mr. Bogle writes with much humility and humanity.
Having made a fortune (though not in the billionaire club due to his own styles and the model of his business) from pioneering the first index fund with Vanguard, the company he founded in 1974. Mr. Bogle, an octogenarian, reflects on his life and career and offers many profound yet simple pointers for students of finance such as myself. Broadly speaking, Jack Bogle has a vision to return the finance industry back to one of stewardship, away from the salesmanship that prevails in today’s financial world. What resonated with me so much is his vision for regular people to be true investors – thus owners, not mere speculators, in low-cost, low-turnout index funds, that generate lasting wealth, rather than proactively managed funds that are costly and are questionable in serving shareholders’ interests. Ultimately, he wants to return values and character to the business world and society at large, in particular, professional ethics to all professions, to a degree in which success will no longer be measured by things – or merely wealth, fame, and power – but rather who we are as human beings and what value we create for our society.
As a Finance student, fumbling and tripping over myself in ardent pursuit of a viable post-grad financial career, the next step, I garnered much needed advice and encouragement from this book, especially from someone in my field who had done exceedingly well by all standards. Mr. Bogle’s call for us to not chase the false rabbits of success,a ringing caveat:
“For while our best and brightest are exquisitely trained to pursue the false rabbits of success, on the whole they are being poorly trained in the intangible qualities that become the virtues that bring real success”
Competition is good and has shown to be good, but what are we competing for? THAT is a profund question.
Last advice that I earmarked from this book: Be Bold, Commit, then Providence will follow
“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”
(Bogle cites 19th-century German philosopher Goethe)
Lastly, I’ll leave you with Bogle’s brilliant epiphany captured by T.S. Eliot regarding what counts in life in this Era of Information that we live in, when we are inundated with data and facts; all the while we lack judgment and perhaps critical thinking:
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust
Let this be clarion call for some serious soul-searching and reflection for us all.
2012 Rewind: Things that I Remember
Here’s my list of things that I remember the most from 2012 – which doesn’t include Higgs Boson (I really don’t know what that is) or space shuttle Discover. I know I must have forgotten a lot of great things that have happened. But here are the top ones that came to mind…
1. Harvard Baseball guys’ “Call Me Maybe” video, which is arguably better than Carly Ray Jepson’s real video, started a bandwagon of people doing the same, including one by Abercrombie & Fitch and USA olympic team swimmers.
2. Meryl Streep, one my my favorite actresses of all time, won Best Actress for her performance in “The Iron Lady. Meryl’s been nominated 17 times for the Oscars, winning three. She holds the record for the most-nominated actor/actress for Academy Awards.
3. The Queen’s entrance to the London Olympic Games 2012 with Daniel Craig. In August, we were all captivated by US swimming team and woman’s gymnastics – both performed spectacularly and took home many Gold medals.
4. MSNBC announced that President Obama wins Ohio, and thus, the Election. More importantly, better yet, Megan Kelly’s raw reaction to Obama’s win on Fox News.
5. There were many weird things during the 2012 campaign, including vicious campaign ads. Among them, the one I remember the most is Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican National Convention…yep the one where he talks to an empty chair
6. While PSY does deserve much credit for being the world’s most recognizable Korean pop musician, but nothing beats “Mitt Romney Style” from College Humor. Though *ahem* politically incorrect, but too hilarious to not to be noticed.
7. True, when we think about the Summer Olympics, we think about Gabby Douglas and the whole woman gymnastics team; Or perhaps the inspirational Oscar Pistorius (this is one of my favorite pics); and Maybe the swimmers like Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps…ok let’s dwell on the swimmers for a minute…the British ones… especially when they lip synced LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It”
8. Burmese opposition leader, Aung Sung Suu Kyi, one of the most commendable democratic icons in international politics, was elected to Burmese parliament after 20 years in house arrest. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, but couldn’t receive it then because she was under house arrest, but this year, she was finally able to make it to Oslo to give her lecture.
9. The story of Shane Crone and Tom Bridegroom probably touched everyone in the LGBTQ community, when Shane released this powerful video, “It Could Happen to You,” earlier this year in remembrance of his boyfriend. His story highlights many struggles, still current, in the LGBTQ community. I believe that our country is making progress on this front, as shown by more and more Fortune 500 companies pushing non-discrimination and diversity policies. I believe members of the LGBTQ community will be fully integrated into the American society in the near future. One day, our lives won’t be politicized anymore because liberty and freedom are historic forces that no single political group can prevent in a free society.
10. Ok, that’s really all I can think of at the moment. Here’s a place holder, but rather, an urging for your to go see Les Miserables in theater! I watched it last night. It was great. This sure-to-be blockbuster musical remake of Victor Hugo’s classic 19th century novel will challenge you intellectually and emotionally on so many levels. You’ll undoubtedly extract a lot from it like I have.
2012 has been a wonderful year for me. I learned so much and met so many people. I cannot be more ready for 2013. I sincerely wish all of you a Happy New Year! May you have a prosperous year and may the Lord be at your side always. There’ll be good and better things coming your way, I’m sure. Have faith. Let’s celebrate life together!
10-Second Tom is No Bueno
If you recall from the movie, 50 First Dates, there was a scene when Lucy (Drew Barrymore) meets 10-second Tom at the hospital. Well, recently I have found myself not being able to remember things very well – actually it has been going on for quite awhile now (kind of embarrassing). I have confided to my friends of my concern that my inability to recall the simplest things – even in short-term aka “10-second Tom” syndrome – has been a source of personal frustration. I surveyed a few websites and came across some thematic tips and suggestions on things we can do to improve memory retention:
- Pay attention to the things you are trying to remember in the first place – if we simply pause for a few seconds every once in awhile and actually trying to register the information, we enhance our ability to remember. When a person introduces him/herself, repeat his/her name by saying, “nice to meet you [name].” This apparently increases the like-hood that you’ll remember that person’s name by 30%.
- Be selective in what you choose to remember – don’t overburden your brain with useless, over-tedious information. Remember the important information and big ideas
- Create associations and use mental images to help you remember – I plan on attending a career info session this week with Dell, I need to apply for an internship position, I have to call local t-shirt vendors to get quotes for an organization, as well as blogging for another org. So for this particular train of thoughts, I visualize that I am sitting in front of a Dell computer, typing (as in blogging), with a phone in in one of my ears placed against my shoulder, and I’m doing the Hook’em Horns sign. If that seems odd to you, great. That’s the fun part of it. By trying to come up with a mental image, I am reinforcing the retention part of trying to remember things…
- Repeat, Recite, and Review – pretty self-explanatory
- Write it down! – get into a habit of keeping a notepad to jot things down; this diffuses your brain’s burden of having to remember everything
Some more advance tricks:
- Engage your emotions – tie your need to remember to a goal of yours (for a sense of accomplishment) or connect it to some other emotions i.e. Create humor out of the things you are trying to remember
- Use your environment – when you place your tie and jacket next to your bed to remind yourself to dress up the next morning, you are using your environment to help you remember; or whenever you use landmarks to help you with directions on the road, etc.
- Overlearn – this goes off the assumption that you have plenty of time…which is not always the case, so I’d like to think of it as learning through variety; think of different ways to interpret the same information
Most articles also emphasize the importance of a balanced diet and exercise. One last piece of advice that was a common theme: practice, practice, practice! Remembering, like all things we do, requires conscious effort on our parts in order for us to see desired result.
Taming the Beast: Stress
Stress is inevitable. That is something that either we experience or innately know already, yet it sounds strange as an idea. I was stressed out last week with two mid-term exams, and the weekend was nothing short of a blessing. MSNBC reports back in 2008 that as many as 1 in 5 undergraduates are stressed in college, and four in ten say they endure stress often. As college students, we constantly think of ways to de-stress, but stress creeps up on us beyond our conscious control. Focusing more on our diet, working out more frequently, sleeping more are all valid ways to help us physically de-stress, but the underlying psychological stressors are still at play.
College students have to juggle multiple things in any given day. If we are lucky, we can keep count of what we are juggling; if not, additional things encroach upon the exercise forcing us to juggle even more things at once. How many times do we find ourselves adding on to our to-do list throughout the day? How scary is the thought of a quiz-in-ten-minutes that you really thought was not taking place for a good two more days? Stress is constant because change is constant. The key is to get into the habit of managing stress.
From my readings on this topic, I’ve compiled these five steps we can do to manage stress:
- Lower your expectations to reduce cognitive dissonance. Often we get stressed over things that didn’t turn out the way we wanted them. Often, too, we were wrong with our expectations for these things from the get-go. In effect, we manufacture stress as result of our unrealistic expectations.
- Focus on “good” stress. Stress can be good to boost our performance. Research shows that moderate stress can help us achieve maximum performance. We simply don’t want to have too little stress, leading to mediocrity and complacency; nor do we want too much stress, resulting in poor short-term memories, pimples, increased body odor, and lowered immune system among many things. Think of a bell curve.
- Focus on what’s within your control. It makes no sense to worry about things that you have no control over. You can better use your energy elsewhere.
- Hang out with positive people. When you surround yourself with positive people, stress won’t have as much effect on your well being. Invest in your emotional piggy bank by forming and maintaining good relationships.
- Take a deep breath! We take this simple, cliched advice for granted. Try it for instant result.
One thing that is important and has helped me personally deal with stress is comparing my life occurrences to real life-changing events experienced by others, such as death or terminal disease in a family member, losing one’s house to the foreclosure crisis, divorce, fleeing one’s country due to political or religious persecution, natural disasters, or even losing financial aid and won’t be able to continue with one’s schooling. When you peg your day-to-day “stress” to these incidences, you’d realize we freak out about the most miniscule things in the world, often unnecessarily. That is not the way to live. Do not let stressors hold back and prevent you from reaching your fullest potentials.
The good news is that stress can be managed. All it takes is some mental preparation and the will to combat something that you partially created out of your own psych and expectations. For Longhorns, it should be comforting knowing that we are not among the Top 15 stressful colleges ranking. Good thing Playboy still ranked us #4 on this year’s Top 10 Party Schools. There are definitely outlets for Longhorns to de-stress. We need to be more resourceful in our planning, framing, and approaches in managing stress.
[Video] Learn to manage stress is important because no one wants to become this guy.
References:
How Stress Can Improve Your Performance
Texas Tribune Festival: Let’s Focus on the Future
This weekend I attended the Texas Tribune Festival, a public policy forum hosted by the non-profit newspaper, the TexasTribune. I have been reading Texas Tribune since my freshman year in college. I attended a talk by Evan Smith, the CEO and President of the newspaper, earlier in the spring, when he was at the Communications School to talk about non-profit journalism. Evan has a hilarious personality. He has a way to diffuse tensions on politically sensitive topics. He has been an effective leader and visionary for the Tribune; Texas is fortunate to have people like Evan to preserve what is left of journalism as a means to ensure political accountability.
The Festival kicked off Friday night with Governor Rick Perry talking about the Satan…and how faith-based folks need to be involved in politics. Despite dodging many questions, I thought the Governor handled the forum really well – cracking jokes at the right time to diffuse tension in the room. When Evan asked the Governor at the onset where he would like to sit on stage, Perry told him, “I’ll be on your right. Evan, I will ALWAYS be on your right.” Or when the Governor referred to Austin as a “blueberry inside a red tomato soup.” The Governor has a natural charisma that is not apparent if you paid attention to him during his unsuccessful Presidential campaign.
My key takeaways:
- The Governor clarified on his position on in-state tuition for undocumented students by defending the fact that the decision was a consequent “aftermath” of a federal government that fails to defend the border; and as the Governor, he and the legislature had to deal with it, and the legislature voted nearly unanimously for it back in 2001, save four dissenting votes
- The Governor called for four-year tuition lock for incoming students at all public universities. He also cited the number of institutions (9 going 10 – I need to fact check this) that had successfully created a $10,000 degree
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to ask Julian Castro and Ted Cruz a question at a forum titled “The Future of Texas Politics.” I asked about how they would address the skyrocketing cost of higher education and student loan debt in a dismal job market where close to half of college graduates can’t find good paying jobs. Castro basically told me to not worry about it because education in a 21st century global economy is so important, so I should not be afraid to take out loans (speaking like a true liberal). Thankfully, my private scholarships and my parents have graciously been funding my education, but I know many of my peers rely on student loans to attend college. But taking out thousands of dollars of loans to attend UT and possibly not find a job in four years is an indictment against higher education. If we truly care about higher ed, then we need have a serious conversation about cost and quality. I’ll be the first one to say that college is not for everyone. We need to be innovative offering different options for future students to obtain a degree and be successful in the workforce.
Other forums like the ones on Family Planning and Voter ID got intense and heated, but overall it has been an informative weekend. I hope more and more Texans would pay attention to some of these issues that have a long-term policy effect on all Texans – I’ll admit that state politics is not as front-and-center as national politics, but it is nonetheless important. We need to ask ourselves what kind of state do we want to live in? What kind of environments should we foster to maintain our stellar record of economic growth? What are the challenges we face along the way? How can we best keep our legislators accountable to Texans? We need to think about the future.
Back to School: #MLIA
You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged for a little over a month now. A lot have happened in the last month of so. It is also no coincidence that school has started on August 29th in the meantime. Two weeks prior to that, I took some leisure considerations to furnish my apartment, just a little. My roommate and I went around to Goodwill stores eyeing for bargains that only budget-strapped college students would find gratifying.
I completed my summer internship with V&E. I recently accepted a fall internship position with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank based in Austin. One of my best friends departed for Paris to study abroad in an exchange program; I cannot express how thrilled I am for her to experience France with her own personal savings – so proud of her! What’s more? UT played against Wyoming in the first football game of the season on August 31, 2012, beating the Cowboys 37-14. The second game against New Mexico this past Saturday, UT shut out the opposition with 45-0! Offense got better in throwing the ball the second game, something that was amiss in the Wyoming match, but the overall strength of the team (defense) still requires much improvement. One of the highlights from the game had to be Matthew McConaughey’s regal wave to a sea of Longhorns from his VIP box; semi-inebriated gals decked out in burnt orange, tip-toeing in cowboy boots tried to catch a sight of the movie star.
I am thoroughly enjoying my Marketing, Finance, and Organizational Behavior classes in McCombs – which by the way is ranked #7 by U.S. News for 2013. McCombs Career Week took place this past week. I penguin-ed up in suit and tie for three days straight, as I networked with numerous recruiters from top Fortune 500 energy and consulting firms, such as ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Accenture, Capegemini, PwC, and a number of other mid-size firms. I am focusing my energy (lolz) this semester in getting that summer internship required for my McCombs degree. I look forward to researching some of these companies in depth, participating in their info sessions, applying for internship positions, and overall leveraging the wonderful resources available to me at McCombs, from top business faculty to career advisors and to my peers.
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I am also very excited for the two student organizations I am involved in this semester: College Republicans and Helping Hornz (a community service organization). I am an officer in each organization. Both groups are relatively small, with huge potentials for growth and development. My broader goal is to develop both organizations into self-sufficiency by motivating the people in each organization to take upon leadership roles to effect positive change. I would like to collaborate with other student organizations, innovate, come up with creative ways to engage members, and effectively implement measures to accomplish these goals. I can’t wait for what these organizations will accomplish this year! I will keep you apprised.
London 2012: Team USA!
I haven’t blogged for a while now. It has been a hectic two weeks of starting my internship, packing, continuing with my research project, moving out of my old apartment, and striving to maintain a reasonable level of routine to my life. Summer Orientation is officially over. I am thrilled to have heard wonderful things about orientation from the new incoming class via personal feedbacks and tweets. Thanks to New Student Services, we succeeded in welcoming over 7000 incoming freshmen and transfer students to the UT campus. I am beyond excited for them to come at the end of the month to embark on a new chapter of their life here in Austin. I made new wonderful friends during orientation. I look forward to keeping those relationships strong throughout the upcoming year.
Summer Olympics in London this year has hit it off with a strong start for Team USA. Though I was puzzled by a few minute details during the Opening Ceremony, and frustrated by the absentminded point-out-the-obvious, with at times, unnecessary political commentary by NBC, I thought London has put forth a great Opening Ceremony show for the world to see with memorable moments like the Queen parachuting out of helicopter 007-style, the music through the decades showcasing British cultural evolution, classic Mr. Bean segment, the always emotional lighting of the torch, and the unforgettable sing-a-along with Paul McCartney in “Hey Jude.” Firework lit up the London skyline in a perfecto ending signaling the start of yet another true international sporting tradition cherished by all nations.
When I checked this morning, Team USA is currently in lead in medal counts with 26 medals, and second only to China in gold medal count. The gymnastic team has outdone itself last night and delivered gold for the whole country to see. Those girls have shown grace and confidence throughout the whole competition. Their much deserved champion status last night is a triumph shared by all Americans as we were all riveted to our television, rooted and cheered for Aly, Gabby, Jordan, McKayla, and Kyla. And Michael Phelps, now an Olympian legend, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 19 medals to show for, is a favorite among all Americans. When I was scrolling through my tweets last night, I saw President Obama’s tweet to Phelps, “Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record. You’ve made your country proud. — bo.” Now for political nerds like myself who follow a whole host of politicians on Twitter, I know that “bo” means Barack Obama himself tweeted. Regardless of my disagreements with the President on policies, that was pretty darn cool.
Look forward for Team USA to further deliver and make us all proud for the next couple of weeks! TEAM USA!!!
I came across this really good article the other day. It resonated me so much that I’d like to delve into it a bit more. The article challenges the often touted notion that we need to stay busy in the current world. College students, young professionals, even children are over-scheduled and are stretched thin. This constant almost obsessive effort to remain busy, appear busy, sound busy is self-induced and unnecessary. It is an addiction; “It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this; it’s something we collectively force one another to do.” I cannot think of how many times my parents call me and I have to sound busy, as if to satiate their expectation that I should be busy in college. Or how I obsessively keep up with two separate calendars, one on my laptop and one in a planner, in addition to a notepad to jot down to-do lists and sort them based on urgency and importance. Or perhaps how I try to squeeze in thirty minutes of a show or an hour of coffee meeting with an acquaintance.
Living life on a tight, hectic schedule cannot be ideal. It is suffocating. Why do I feel bad about taking a nap when I should be doing school work? Why do I feel “too busy” to not go to the gym or simply go for a jog? Why do I constantly feel that there is not enough hours in a day? What happened to those seemingly empty hours when we enjoy doing nothing? Who says doing nothing is not productive? As the author points out, reflection and thinking are ways to help us collect our thoughts, reevaluate our actions, and calm our nerves. If we live life by the minutes, what room is there for us to improve ourselves through self-examination? Isn’t it Aristotle who advised us that an unexamined life is not worth living? How in the world can we examine anything if we keep ourselves busy all the time? This article serves a warning bell for those – like myself – who have a desire to be superproductive, who cannot stand “doing nothing” because the feeling of “wasting time” undermines our self-worth. We have to let go and not be so rigid with our schedules because there is so much to life than just a schedule.
“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets.”
Time Out 