The person who needs the most help
#9 - Diwali fun
I really am puzzled as to how to start these emails off. With a hello? Or a cleverly thought out greeting (like last time) or just go straight in? I think I'm going to settle for a simple 'Hi there.'
Hi there.
The month has started in an intense fashion with the mocks mood being rife at school. Just thinking back to how the week began, I'm starting to experience one of the benefits I was told of writing a newsletter and journalling - it makes time go slowly. For quite a few weeks now, it's felt like ages since I last wrote.
This week we had Diwali, which, rather than 'The Festival of Lights', is understood as 'The Festival of Sweets' by my mum as you can see below:
Sadly, we weren't able to get hold of any fireworks but did enjoy the vibrant displays from the window. Just spare a thought to this though: we've had both a climate summit and a bonfire night in the same week...
I also played my first (ever) competitive hockey match for Sutton Coldfield against Streetly. We lost 1-2 but it was, nevertheless, a good experience.
Highlight of the week: only having to go to school for 3 days. We had Monday off due to a school training day and then on Friday, the school set up a 'Microsoft Teams Drill Day'. It was wonderful to have another day at home and also brought back some memories (good ones) of the lockdowns at the start of the year. I also got to go on a walk for PE which I haven't been able to do in a while.
As I was gearing up to go on the aforementioned walk, mounting on my defence against the cold, I found a couple of pairs of ankle socks in my socks box that I no longer wanted. (In case you want to know, I bought them earlier this year to try ankle ones out, but didn't like wearing them.) I took them out, tried 'em on, saw that they didn't fit and just went and plonked it back into the box. I thought to myself, "Well, one day (when my mum forces me to) I'll have to tidy this cupboard up. Surely my life would be easier, then, if I put this in the bin or somewhere else, neatly, now?" In the end, I did put the 2 pairs into a bag of dresses that don't fit me anymore.
So, to complete today's title, the person who needs the most help...is the future you. Anything you can do now that might make life easier or better is worth doing, isn't it? And to the contrary, doing anything that your future self might rue and regret (like doomscrolling through Instagram) is inadvisable.
This idea of thinking about your future self as a separate person might seem weird but why shouldn't you? After all, we are changing, learning, evolving every day, becoming different forms of ourselves all the time.
One way you can do this is by structuring your life so that it helps you in the future. This could mean being a bit more prescriptive and descriptive on your to-do list, reducing future ambiguity. Or adding your friend's birthday party to your calendar (and setting up a notification about it). It might even simply be choosing revision over Squid Game on Netflix! The future you will be grateful.
I certainly have been grateful to him. I can definitely recall quite a few instances in the last year where I've internally appreciated and expressed gratitude to past me for setting up a certain reminder or doing something that has helped me now.
That said, we should remember to stay, live and be in the present and aim to enjoy what's happening all the time, not just being future-focused. Because one day you'll be that future that your past helped out! So, enjoy the journey.
Book of the week 📖
As I expected, the return to school has hampered progress on Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty. But I do know that I've gotten 60% of the way through.
Podcast of the week🎙️
The Tim Ferriss Show: The Art of Effortless Results with Greg McKeown
One from a while back on the world's No. 1 educational podcast. I've mentioned it because I really remember loving listening to this conversation. Beware: it's long!
Article of the week📰
You are going to make a huge mistake
I'm going, to be honest, had to scrape for this one. I’ll try and actually, actively, read some articles after the mocks.
Quote of the week💬
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. - H Jackson Brown Jr
A heads up that next week will be a shorter one about mocks I would have prewritten. With me having 3 exams the next day (sigh), I don't want to expend much energy on this blog (even though I love it). Have a great week.
Adi