Hello everyone š
This week, I tried the iOS15 beta but then my phone glitched out. Had to do a full phone restoration/backup and now I canāt even re-upload my photos back on my phone properly. Oh well, at least I have a fresh new phone now.
Yin and Yang ā Finding the Right Balance
I started reading Jordan B. Petersonās 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos this week, and Iām loving it. Gone through 23% of the book so far, and finished the first four rules:
Stand up straight with your shoulders back ā a metaphor suggesting that you command confidence/respect through your behaviour, similar to āachieving what you believe inā
Treat yourself like someone youāre responsible helping ā we would much rather stay on course when giving our pet their pills then take our own. Take care of yourself.
Befriend people who want the best for you ā too many times, we give people too many chances to āearn friendshipā and thus surround ourselves with suboptimal friends
Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today ā there isnāt any point dwelling on what you canāt control. Make the standard of improvement relative to yourself.
Iām looking forward to reading the next 8 rules over the next week and a bit. One thing that stood out to me however, was the notion of balance in your life. In rule #2, he repeated brings up the daoist belief of the yin and yang ā representing both order and chaos. In this, there is both possibility for chaos to come from order, and order to come from chaos. Too much chaos isnāt good, and likewise an excess of order is unhealthy. The world exists, and even develops, through the interplay of both of these forces.
Balance. As a student, weāve probably explored the skill of time management several times, recounting various strategies to optimize this seemingly essential skill. It would probably be safe bet to extend that assumption to your daily schedule ā how do I balance my work and social life? Moreover, āwork-life balanceā is probably a term that you have used within your language within the past few weeks.
Thinking about this week, I believe that the majority strive for balance, most unawarely disguised in control. I used to be a control dude ā I needed to have my schedule planned out, routines set out, and an expectation of everything that could happen, just so I could be comfortable in a given setting. That was before, and Iām aiming to adopt a more spontaneous lifestyle that allows room for serendipity to kick in.
What Iāve been trying to do was to leave certain evenings free (8pm+) as well as weekends to just take time for myself and/or spend time with friends. Seems like quite a āworking personāsā schedule but it definitely does help in keeping me grounded and overall feeling quite balanced.
This week, let me encourage you to take a look at your ābalanceā ā are you happy with the distribution of your time? Are there more things that you wish you dedicated more/less time to? What does an ideal ābalanceā look like to you?
Let me know by dropping a comment below, or by reaching out to me on Twitter. Have a great week :)
Me this Week š¤”
What I learned ā my best friendās sister just got into UBC Dentistry š, macrophage differentiation
What I did ā unpreparedly had a mediocre (at best) journal club presentation, finding solutions to my cell growth problem
What Iām going to do ā start BioDojo interviews, plan out my time and find that balance
Quote of the Week š¬
When you dare aspire upward, you reveal the inadequacy of the present and the promise of the future
ā taken from Jordan B. Petersonās 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Video of the Week š¬
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