People try so hard to feel happy and motivated, but do they truly feel it? Well, on some good days, yes. Do they feel good often? Not really. It’s been a week of staycation at my brother’s place—solid family time and a lot of conscious self-reflection. I worked by day and journaled by night. I don’t know when “home” became another foreign place. I don’t feel sad or lonely, just that I’ve suddenly learned to accept whatever happens in life. Seeing myself more clearly has helped me understand that it’s not about seeking constant happiness, but rather about embracing whatever life brings. Is it good or bad? I think it depends, but for me, I believe there is more good than bad in it.

I think when we were young, we tended not to see ourselves much. We rarely felt like our lives were in our hands to control. We often had more of those helpless feelings, wishing to run away from life. We still do, but the urge is much stronger when we’re younger.

Or maybe, as we grow older, we have fewer places to run away to. As we see a bigger world, our existence seems to shrink into a smaller corner. We no longer have our parents and school to blame for things, and for most of us, it’s almost impossible to blame ourselves, because self-criticism is the hardest form of condemnation. It’s completely different from self-sabotage. I believe that only people with strong mental power can criticize themselves without belittling their self-esteem. I aspire to be that kind of person.

Learning to type may sound like a skill you should have already learned in school, but I’m not a good typist yet. Experiencing new things in life has always been my source of motivation for daily life, and seeing old things through new eyes. Most of us care less about whether we type the words correctly, but typing is the process of thinking for writers. Yes, we can use AI to help optimize our grammar, but if we get used to thinking like a careless draft-taker, we lose our originality in thinking as the ultimate beings on earth.

We are blessed with the talent of independent thinking, but if we rely too much on AI for revisions, we lose our originality and become lazier. Personally, I think AI is a great development for this century, but as individuals, we should use it for efficiency, not to make ourselves lazier in thinking. Writers aim to get their ideas and stories down as clearly as possible in the first draft, so we type our ideas out, character by character. We’re supposed to enjoy those moments of holding a pen or, more commonly now, exploring the keyboard with our fingers. It’s how we learn to explore our minds more effectively. That’s why I’ve taken on typing practice recently—to train both my hands and mind. As I see myself more clearly, I care less about the seemingly unstable and ever-changing world. We can use ourselves as the anchor for our lives.

A week well-spent is a week lived!

See you next week!