Tending the Garden, and the curious case of saying no

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This week was quite intense.
The deadlines of the master’s applications approaching full speed, and the course registration for my final semester bundled with some personal situations made for a pretty stressful few days.

But it also made me run a lot, to clear my mind, so I have some insights I would like to share.

First a bit of operative information, regarding the Garden. I did deploy the booknotes on Antifragile, but it’s a bit of a cheat, so I would like to elaborate on that.

In the Garden, I would like to portray my exact thought processes, all the connections I make, all the references and links.
But for that to accommodate well for new information I learn, I have to make notes on some of the important ideas I already learned in the past, and use almost unconsciously every day.

That is quite a bit harder of a task than I imagined it to be. I try to take notes (mental and physical) of all the little neural circuits that fire up when I talk about a topic, to identify the most frequent guests in my thought processes. So it’s a big work in progress, but for some books, like Antifragile, I have zero written notes, so I have to use some external resource to be able to link to this book in my future notes.

Now onto the saying no part.

I had quite a few discussions with those around me about acceptance and rejection, and the ways to convey these as well. And it helped a thought crystallize in my mind.

At this point in my life, I am in no obligation to anyone but myself. Usually, when people imagine their life, they think of one where they can be their true selves, where they don’t have to pretend. And sadly, very few get to this point, I think because we give ourselves up too soon in life.

I feel like where I currently am in life, it is time to be completely and unapologetically me. This is true for academic choices, as well as any other aspect of life. It’s a kind of “HELL YES OR NO” situation. If I am not completely passionate about something, I better figure out what to do with it, instead of just accepting it, because that is a slippery slope leading into a life I don’t really like.

And saying no is a big part of this. You have to realize, that saying yes closes all other options most of the time while saying no closes only one. And if you’re anything like me, you are yet to figure out what are the things you like precisely, so closing down all options in an aspect will halt your exploration completely.

So be brave in saying no, and don’t compromise on things you don’t want to.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next time,

G