[blog 1, first drafted in summer of 2021, completed March, 2022]
Growing up, I enjoyed a wide variety of music. Crank on the radio and I could tune in to almost any FM station, CD, or iPod mix. As a kid, it wasn’t really what was on the radio that mattered, but the ride in my mum’s car. It was a creamy white 2000 Volkswagen Passat wagon, with a power sunroof my sister and I loved to crack open, an air conditioning system my mother rarely used, and leather seats worn into the perfect shape for my lil’ stubborn ass to feel snug. My childhood felt pretty comfy in that car – the best part – it felt like everywhere we were headed, it was purposeful.
But the best part – it felt like everywhere we were headed, it was purposeful.
That feeling didn’t just come from anywhere. My mom was the type of woman who’d first whip on the AM radio to catch up with the local news and current traffic before she’d switch to the FM radio, the tunes that is. It’d either be a mix of the latest pop music or a nice R&B tune to ease one’s drive, regardless of the traffic situations, rest assured, me mum got the tunes. Though the music may be the same redundant trash one may hear every day, I learned something important. PRIORITIZE. Now, to be completely fair, I didn’t realize this until I started living alone when I didn’t even have a car radio, but rather a lot of responsibilities. Given I had to manage between school and a part-time job, what ended up happening is I would often push tasks aside for a “just a few drinks with friends” … which then led to a few hours with friends … and suddenly when I’m back home, it’s already 2:37 AM, I have a shift at 6 AM, my uniform’s unwashed, and I’m about to barf… ugh, Fuck
Organizing one’s life is hard. I get that. I skip breakfast too. But I got a solution – well really it’s from my mother
Sort your priorities based on importance and urgency:
- If it’s urgent and important, well get yo ass goin!
- Otherwise, try to do those that are urgent but not so important but may have time/chronological conditions.
- Then get back to doing some important stuff to get end the day feeling accomplished!
- Finally, if you get any remainder time, that’s when the meaningless and optional tasks can be started, continued, or finished.
If it seems intimidating sorting everything out or tackling it all, then break the situation down. What is time-sensitive, what isn’t? In my mother’s case, she just wanted to save money on gas and keep her kids tame. Though leaving the FM radio on from the get-go meant that we’d get some boppin tunes to leave the hood with, we could only hope to avoid traffic once we get onto Toronto’s highways. On the other hand, allocating the first 10 mins of our drive to some traffic and news gave my mother the foresight to keep the car rolling. This gave my sis and me the rest of the ride, Rockin our heads to the rhythm of the radio.
All in all, the idea is to get shit done, so you can continue striving toward your dreams. To be honest, if you don’t have big dreams – is ok – I don’t either, I just try my best to never forget them. If you don’t have any dreams, I’m not entirely sure if I know how to get your values and goals aligned to how fortune-tellers or horoscope readers would say your destiny would lead to, but then again… maybe another chance for me to ramble on.
Stay kinqie peeps.
To those who've been following this journey, I apologise for the late arrival of this blog entry. I've been tackling great monsters and hideous beasts that many call mental illness but I feel better. A friend helped me realize that at life punches hard, and does it often. So I decided to started punching back.