You are not a machine. You are a human being. Take breaks, use your PTO, go for walks, travel, go outside, and spend time with the people you love. Your life was never meant to be an endless cycle of work and deadlines, and I think it's important to remember that.
one of the main reasons i’m so gentle with myself is cause i believe i’ve already experienced enough hardship in my life. i’ve already been mishandled and undervalued by others and myself at times. so i deserve more patience, forgiveness, and consideration at this point.
Give your mind a break. From people. From phones. From the constant hustle of life. Spend some alone time just with yourself. Do nothing. Be bored. Stare at a crack in the wall. Look out the window. Watch how shadows move. Listen to a piece of music that's 300 years old. Read Hegel. Read Aristotle. Read Dostoevsky. The minds that are still relevant today. Slow down enough to experience things deeply again. Don't consume something just because it's trending. Be loyal to your own curiosities. Your own interests. Your own idiosyncrasies. If you want to live a life that feels alive, protect the parts of yourself this world keeps trying to distract you from.
i regret to inform you that personal growth rarely comes from acquiring new knowledge and almost always from:
•getting humiliated
•showing up terrified and doing it anyway
•admitting you might be the problem
Major cheat code for life: Master the art of the fresh start. From a bad morning. From a bad interaction. From a missed workout. From a poor decision. The goal isn't to avoid the fall. It's to shorten the time between the fall and the reset. Fast recovery compounds.
STUDY HARD. No matter if it seems impossible. No matter if it takes time. Wake up early and start studying for your future. Just remember that the feeling of success is the best feeling in the world.