Sometimes the best advice you get comes from yourself. I recently noticed that I write notes to myself all the time; in class, during meals, when I’m making lists, and when I do homework. I was going through my class notes recently as I wrote papers (that are still in progress as I type this out), and I kept finding completely unrelated scribbles in the margins of my notepaper. They ranged from self-care to-dos to entertainment ideas to research ideas for other classes to motivational messages, and on and on.
Some I actually followed, some I forgot about or lost until it was too late to use them, and some are just… there. So, for your entertainment, here are some of my “notes to self” from this semester.
*** DISCLAIMER: I am not providing any context for these notes. They are reproduced as they were written in my class notes. If you decide to actually obey some of these notes, choose wisely.
Breathe
Eat breakfast/lunch/dinner
I LOVE JANE AUSTEN
Have a snack
Postmodernism: laughing as we descend into the abyss. Random.
Time is not real
Run
Take a nature walk
Drink water
Drink tea/coffee
I LOVE KAZUO ISHIGURO
Stardust
Break up your time
I’m so biased. STOP. GET OVER IT. READ IT.
Chocolate
Steve Reich (Youtube)
To watch: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (no music!)
Shower
Run laundry
Do some of these make sense? Yes. Do others? No, but they’re not meant for you, and that’s the point! So I challenge you to write little notes to yourself and see what nonsense or beauty comes from it.