Splash No. 183 - Learning
Learning
I can’t believe it’s December. For whatever reason, my internal calendar stopped moving sometime in October and I’m still sometimes in the mood for a Halloween movie. Maybe it was the Daylight Savings Time shift, that somehow threw a bag over my head and made me lose track of it all. The Negative Nancy side of my brain decided that this was aging — that whole “time moves faster when it’s a smaller percentage of your life” thing. To ease the Nancy Brain, I performed the deeply dangerous action of googling it, ready to be given useless tips or an anxiety-provoking WebMD article. Instead, I was met with the idea that our younger selves experienced time more slowly due to the novelty of their lives. Children were constantly seeing new things, learning new things, being thrown off with brand new revelations all day and all night. These experiences create tons of memories, to keep our days memorable and have them stand out.
Even with how boring high school was, I’ve found recently found myself reminiscing about how much information I learned with a developing brain at the time — six subjects at once, often covering completely brand new information and ways of thinking, just regularly entering my brain. Comparatively, most of the knowledge I gain now involves increasingly absurd interpretations of the Succession season finale and too many NBA player nicknames. and comprehensible and reminded me that more meaningful forms of learning are still possible and still fascinating. and still accessible, even if they come in smaller forms like books I read, content I consume. But is that it? Will learning more about anything intellectually stimulating magically solve all of my woes about time?
I don’t think it will. Since beginning my time woes, I’ve had a great time. I’ve seen friends, experienced an incredible amount of San Francisco rain, and stayed positive, even on the days where I didn’t get enough sleep or didn’t see a lick of sunlight. Yet, I don’t think simply reading a physics book shifted my perspective.
There was learning outside of the traditional academic sphere that I needed. I feel comfortable in my skin right now, balanced with the people in my life. This came from watching movies about struggle, enjoying time with family, and the associated travel. It came from reading too, digging into art books that had me journal about my life. And, somehow, making room for self-reflection and honesty with those around me made it easier to do everything else. Words in books became more interesting, the cats in the neighbor’s window cuter, the sunbeams painted along the sidewalks and trees shimmer-y-er. I grew more excited to work out, to do work, to write, to walk, to look at the hummingbirds in the tree outside the balcony. I don’t know how long this will last, but maybe now with my calmer mind, I’ll remember more of this, and how to re-learn to feel balanced over and over again.
Drops of the Week
ALBUM - When Smoke Rises by Mustafa - incredible album from Canadian musician Mustafa that I've just had on loop
ARTICLE - "The Revolutionary Writing of bell hooks" by Hua Hsu - RIP bell hooks, who gave a vocabulary to me and countless others about how to love ourselves and each other and imagine a brighter future.
POEM - "Ars Poetica" by Aracelis Girmay - the poem as snail slime
With each day, we can move closer to a more equitable world. Reminders:
Donate to Help Afghan Refugees Settle in NorCal Mutual Aid Networks
Anti-racism resources
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Brightly,
Nikhil