why you can't give up on your hobbies

(sizzling) Hello, everyone. Happy new year. I hope everyone has been having a lovely time so far and you're taking things slow. There's absolutely no rush. I've been seeing so many tweets and posts of people just saying that they're going to have the time of their lives in 2021, which, you know, I hope they do, but I hope they also know that COVID isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's still very much here. So please, everyone continue to socially distance. Okay, so I had a brief period where my attention was being pulled in like 10 different directions and I knew I wouldn't be able to dedicate quality time to each individual thing. So I had to let my podcast go for a bit, which is why I went MIA. But I'm really glad that some of you continue to listen to my older episodes. You don't even understand the amount of joy that I get when I see tweets or messages saying that you listen to this on your run while you're doing work. It makes me so happy. And I also apologize for being MIA. I also want to thank every single one of you that had this podcast on your 2020 Spotify wrapped despite there being only like a few episodes out. It really means a lot to me and I really, really appreciate it. Okay, so first of all, I want you guys to understand why I want to talk about this topic in today's episode. I think it's going to be super fitting, especially now just when everyone is making their new year's goals and it's all about moving forward and to self-improvement, you know, just a very New Year's resolution, typical type of stuff. But today I wanted to kind of go in the opposite direction of that and I want everyone to kind of just take a step back with me and go down memory lane and let's rewind. So these past couple of weeks I've been obsessed and I mean obsessed with reading books. If you've been following me on my YouTube channel, you already know this, but it's been my new favorite form of escapism that somehow makes me feel productive and accomplished in a way. I consider it to be like, you know, a healthy form of escapism, if you will, up until the point where I'm basically, you know, ignoring every other work that I have to do, then that's when it's a little too much, but let's pretend I know how to balance things. I feel like there's no better feeling than finishing a book, especially if it's a really, really good one. Pretty sure this whole obsession started when I decided to pick up the Harry Potter series in October. It was my first time reading it and I absolutely fell in love with this series which inspired me to keep on reading. Honestly, I haven't really found another series that matches that magical energy and cozy warmth that I came to love about that book. I formed like really intense character attachments because the series spanned out for over like seven books. So it was hard to not fall in love with at least one of them. The first time I teared up while reading a book was when I read a thousand splendid sons by Caleducini and that was all the way back in high school, but that one Harry Potter book where Dumbledore was having his whole last monologue about humanity, it really had me crying and I can't even remember what book that was because I read it so long ago. It don't even get me started on like all the other things. I'm not gonna talk about it in depth because I don't wanna spoil it just in case. There's people out there that are listening to this podcast that are planning to read it. It is a magical adventure. You're going to have tons of fun. So because I started off with really high standards, I guess when it came to reading again, none of the books that I read since has made me go, wow, I absolutely love it. It has changed my life and I read over like 20 or so books. These past couple of months, which is a lot considering how I haven't properly read a fiction book in years. There's this one new thing that I started to do recently and that's not finishing a book if I don't have to. I can generally tell if I'll like a book the first 20 pages in, if it doesn't catch my interest from either the plot or the way the author writes, then I'm just going to simply give up on reading it when I was younger. I don't know why, but I was really determined to read it, even if I didn't understand everything that was going on, even if it was boring. For some reason, I just was determined to like get through the entire thing and somehow feel accomplished by that. I don't know why, maybe it's because I had nothing better to do. It was either that or playing Maple Story. So yeah, that was my childhood. But nowadays I know a lot more about what I like and what I don't like. Plus life is too short to be stuck reading a book. You personally don't find enjoyable. Don't think you have to force yourself to like anything just because it has some critics award or it's generally received a lot of positive reviews. You're allowed to form your own opinions about things and creative writing is pretty much an art form in itself. So it's okay to have subjective thoughts about it. I think one thing that really resonated with me from this one marketing book that I picked up was that there aren't necessarily bad things. You yourself may not like it, but it doesn't mean it's actually terrible. You may just not be the audience for it. For some people, it may be the best thing in the world because their perception of it is completely different. So if you ever read a book and you don't like it, but you find that there's like hella five star reviews, your initial thought may be what is everyone like it. It was terrible, everyone's crazy. That doesn't mean your opinion is superior or anything. It's just different. There's no right or wrong answer here. Honestly, I used to do that a lot. Okay, if I'm being completely transparent, especially when it came to watching TV shows, I feel like I'm a little bit more lenient when it comes to reading just because it's more of a therapeutic experience and I'm just there to have a good time. But then when it comes to watching TV shows and movies, I like to analyze it on a very critical level for some reason. I don't know why. I think it's just because I am someone that's really interested in all of that. So I always like to think about every single aspect. And for some people that can be really annoying and they're just there to have a good time. But for me, I'm just like, oh, I gotta be a critic. Rotten tomatoes, I'm coming for you. But yeah, so, but then I realize that there are shows that are just not meant for me and that's fine. It doesn't mean it's bad. I'm just not the audience for it. However, if you guys are interested in really good shows that have realistic dialogue, character development, et cetera, et cetera, I highly recommend HBO shows. I think there's a reason why so many of my favorite shows come from that network. Their script writers should get a raise because they are amazing on what they do. So there's a whole bunch of generally popular shows that I just don't like for a number of reasons, but that's just me. I completely understand why it's considered to be exceptional by other people, though. I completely get it. So I'm not trying to say anything bad about it. If you guys are interested, I would love to have a separate podcast where I talk about like shows that I really like or even books more in depth, just because I don't want to drag on this episode for too long. Let me know how you feel about that. Who knows, maybe I'll even make like a second channel just dedicated to books because I've been really involved on that side of YouTube lately. Now, the reason why I'm talking about my whole thing with books is because I'm making a solid promise to myself to make sure I'm able to just dedicate time towards doing things that I love. It won't be for any other purpose, except for the simple fact that it makes me happy. I think I really lost sight of that in 2020 and not gonna lie, that made life a lot less meaningful because I was constantly doing other things that I thought I had to do and along the way, the fun out of life was just being sucked out. Personally, for me, I was going through a period where I was hustling and grinding a lot because I was keeping sight of where everyone else was at. And I was essentially treating life as if it was some goddamn rat race, which is so, so unhealthy. And it's actually something that me and my friends talk about a lot, especially with the university that we're at, everyone is constantly just trying to one up each other. Like, I know there is one specific period my friends talk about all the time, where especially during co-op season, where everyone is racing to get a job and everyone is lining up for the same interviews, the tension in the air. Like when you ask people, "Oh my God, did you get that job?" Or, "How was it interview?" You just know that they're not asking because they're concerned. They want to know if you got it or not to kind of gauge where they are at. Or at least that's how we felt. And that's just kind of like the certain energy we were sort of reading. And I feel like that's basically the norm for any competitive school environment. I've never seen a super supportive educational environment in my life that probably does exist though. I don't know where, just not here. But let me tell you that shit was exhausting. The moment you would hit a milestone or get some kind of accomplishment, you were on cloud nine because you were working towards that feeling and validation for so long that when you got it, it would keep you on that adrenaline high for a bit. You know, you would tell your friends, family, you were ecstatic. And as you should be because you deserve that, you worked hard. Which is why when I watched Soul on Christmas last year, a bitch was bawling. Okay, if you haven't seen the movie, I want you to stop right now because I'm going to spoil it a little bit. And I really just wanted to talk about this one scene in particular that really resonated with me. It's that scene where Joe had just finished performing at the Jazz Club and throughout the entire movie. It all escalates to that big moment. The moment that he thought, would fix everything in his life because he was chasing it for years. If you watch the movie, then you know what I'm talking about. And it's this whole thing where he kept on reiterating that this was a big thing that would change his life forever, him performing at this jazz club. After he was done performing, he asked Lady what's next. And she was like, well, you know, we just keep on coming back and performing every night. And he sort of stands there, baffled like, oh, this is it. And for some reason, that really hit me because I feel like that's an emotion that I could really, really to that whole thing of chasing after something. And then once you finally get it, it really makes no big of a difference at all. Like you have your two seconds to shine, but then you live with all these other feelings for the majority of time. I know like for me, it's definitely like always a matter of, oh, when I finally get to that destination, I don't feel as fulfilled as I thought it would be. So, you know, take this moment to think about the things that you used to do just for fun. Forget about the monetary purposes. Forget about how time consuming it may be. And just focus on how these things used to make you feel. It can honestly be anything, reading, writing, playing video games, etc. For some people, they may not consider these things to be productive, but I personally think that you're not getting the most out of life if you're constantly racing to do the next best thing because sometimes that gets you in this mindset that no matter how much you have, none of it will ever be enough. So, I think as we go into the new year, just stay mindful, be present, and enjoy the many little things of your day. I know for me sometimes I get really excited to make my cup of coffee in the morning or even just to FaceTime my friends later on in the day, and it's really just about all those little things that make up a majority of your happiness. And some of the times you don't think about it, but they're there and they really do make a difference. And yeah, so that's everything that I really wanted to touch upon in this episode. If you guys made it to the end, I would love to know what some of your hobbies are. Feel free to DM me, let me know. Feel free to tell me if you're gonna try to make an effort to kind of retouch on these childhood hobbies and things you used to enjoy. I really enjoy reading your messages. My Instagram and all other social platforms will be linked in the description of this episode. And as always, thank you so, so much for listening and I hope you have a wonderful day, night or evening. Bye.