While playing cards the other night, my cousin Jon made an interesting point while it was all happening - “I want to be able to focus on everything that’s going on, but it just gets overwhelming and my mind goes blank”.
The game is pretty hectic - the aim is to get rid of all your cards in your hand, as well as a pile in front of you. Three other people are doing the same thing and cards and body parts tend to fly all over the place. A lot of fun, but Jon was spot on - there are moments when you are simply staring at the table, as if you are observing and not a participant. You want to be proactive, but instead the only solution is to stop, take a breath and then start again.
It got me thinking about what I’m wanting to achieve this year and how the game is a little example of life right now. At the moment, on the ‘table’ there are endless opportunities - travel, food, blogs, languages, sports, books, photography, video editing, musical instruments- and it’s a little overwhelming. Combine this with maintaining relationships with family and friends (from abroad), as well as ensuring that work is rewarding, fulfilling and providing money to be able to do all of the above, and life is bursting. Especially when sometimes all I want to do at the end of the day is sit down, have a nice meal and watch TV with my girlfriend.
So how does it all fit? How can I have all these interests and ambitions and fit it into the working week? How can I devote the necessary amount of time to improve on and understand these hobbies? Do I simply forego some of them? Do I dedicate a certain amount of weeks to one and then stop and move onto the next one?
All of this reflection made me remember a stand-up routine by the comedian Demetri Martin. He basically realised that he had a reached a point in his life where he needed to ensure that each week was filled to its potential. This involved “daily, self-imposed hurdles” that he needed to overcome. These ranged from eating fruit and vegetables and drinking water, to making time for his relationship and helping others. At the end of the week he would mark it on his “weekly points system”. The results were not as he expected. He thought he’d coast through each week scoring the maximum of 35 points regularly, but at least getting mid-20s.
He got over 20 once in a year. His lowest score was 4.
The game is pretty hectic - the aim is to get rid of all your cards in your hand, as well as a pile in front of you. Three other people are doing the same thing and cards and body parts tend to fly all over the place. A lot of fun, but Jon was spot on - there are moments when you are simply staring at the table, as if you are observing and not a participant. You want to be proactive, but instead the only solution is to stop, take a breath and then start again.
It got me thinking about what I’m wanting to achieve this year and how the game is a little example of life right now. At the moment, on the ‘table’ there are endless opportunities - travel, food, blogs, languages, sports, books, photography, video editing, musical instruments- and it’s a little overwhelming. Combine this with maintaining relationships with family and friends (from abroad), as well as ensuring that work is rewarding, fulfilling and providing money to be able to do all of the above, and life is bursting. Especially when sometimes all I want to do at the end of the day is sit down, have a nice meal and watch TV with my girlfriend.
So how does it all fit? How can I have all these interests and ambitions and fit it into the working week? How can I devote the necessary amount of time to improve on and understand these hobbies? Do I simply forego some of them? Do I dedicate a certain amount of weeks to one and then stop and move onto the next one?
All of this reflection made me remember a stand-up routine by the comedian Demetri Martin. He basically realised that he had a reached a point in his life where he needed to ensure that each week was filled to its potential. This involved “daily, self-imposed hurdles” that he needed to overcome. These ranged from eating fruit and vegetables and drinking water, to making time for his relationship and helping others. At the end of the week he would mark it on his “weekly points system”. The results were not as he expected. He thought he’d coast through each week scoring the maximum of 35 points regularly, but at least getting mid-20s.
He got over 20 once in a year. His lowest score was 4.
“My intentions were good- I was trying to become a better person [however] I lost sight...I was so busy trying to figure out who I wanted to be, I didn’t realise who I was becoming”
And that person was someone that was more obsessed with coming up with the perfect schedule and outline of what should go into a week, rather than just experiencing and enjoying the choices and life he was living.
So what does this mean for me? I’m wary. Wary of being someone that has a schedule of when to practise guitar, learn Spanish or write pieces for this blog. While it’s important that I pursue the things that I want to, their value and importance could be lost if I impose my own weekly hurdles and disregard spontaneity. However, I strongly believe it’s crucial to examine your life and ensure that it is being fulfilled at every opportunity. But if you do that too much you lose the spontaneity. But if you don’t…
It’s a never-ending cycle.
Through all this though, I have realised that I am incredibly lucky. I live in a time that I have endless choices to dedicate time to whatever I desire. And while it may seem like a curse as there’s no real excuse if you don’t do it, it’s still pretty amazing (and overwhelming) to think that literally anything I want to learn about is at my fingertips. Basically, the card game that I’m playing may be hectic, but it’s always fun.
As Demetri put it:
So what does this mean for me? I’m wary. Wary of being someone that has a schedule of when to practise guitar, learn Spanish or write pieces for this blog. While it’s important that I pursue the things that I want to, their value and importance could be lost if I impose my own weekly hurdles and disregard spontaneity. However, I strongly believe it’s crucial to examine your life and ensure that it is being fulfilled at every opportunity. But if you do that too much you lose the spontaneity. But if you don’t…
It’s a never-ending cycle.
Through all this though, I have realised that I am incredibly lucky. I live in a time that I have endless choices to dedicate time to whatever I desire. And while it may seem like a curse as there’s no real excuse if you don’t do it, it’s still pretty amazing (and overwhelming) to think that literally anything I want to learn about is at my fingertips. Basically, the card game that I’m playing may be hectic, but it’s always fun.
As Demetri put it:
“The ‘if’s’ are the possibilities that are infinite for all of us…time, that’s finite. Maybe if you divide the choices by the amount of time you have, the real I can emerge…”