As I shuffle through apps daily, every ad has the same gist.
Find out what this mystery fruit is with the power of AI.
Geometry can be hard. Need help?
Get xyz delivered to you in minutes.
Get the answer to any question in seconds.
Etcetera, etcetera…
I can’t deny that having dinner delivered mid-essay, late at night, is great, but as our world advances by the day, inconvenience is a lost art in the name of productivity. Trends even reflect this. Inauthenticity and ‘roboticness’ are being rejected, and being lived-in, honest, maybe even a hot mess, is in. Set an intention to embrace, or even find, hassle instead of constant efficiency.
In the Gym
Workout. Put up with it! When I can make it, my favorite part is achievement—lifting five pounds heavier than I did the last time, or lasting seconds or minutes longer. The first day that you master a new move is truly rewarding. This routine reminder of achievement goes a long way outside of physical fitness.
Alternatively, do a slow yoga flow. Being still and breathing is shockingly hard. With a busy lifestyle, between college and work and other obligations, making time for yoga looks more like searching up five-minute morning yoga or ten-minute yoga stretches on YouTube. However, allowing yourself long moments, perhaps forty-five minutes or an hour, of mindfulness helps one to find patience, foregoing the everyday need to hustle.
As a Student
While I am, what they say, ‘on that damn phone,’ I am actually a pretty analog student. I believe in old-fashioned written notes and textbooks.
Getting a degree is hard! Physically preserve it!
Print out your readings and archive them. Find books about the subjects you’re enrolled in. A little goes a long way. Temptation to know the answers, and know them quickly, can be avoided or actively rejected when going back to the basics.
The Hardest Thing You Can Do is Choose to Be a Human.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Being annoyed is the price we pay for community?” Engaging with and being present for your peers, family, and colleagues is hard. Especially when our own planets feel like the center of the orbit. Choosing to be a human can have multiple meanings. Personally, it means navigating life lessons and journeys of being honest, kind, and setting boundaries with others and with yourself.