Overwhelmed

Maymester sounded like such a good idea back in April when I was registering for classes. A whole semester in just two and a half weeks? Who wouldn’t want to get a whole class credit before summer even really starts? It sounded like an incredible opportunity. And it was. The problem is, fitting an entire class into two and a half weeks is extremely difficult. It means you have to work hard. Really hard. And I wasn’t fully prepared for that.

The first day of class, I came in wide-eyed and prepared (I thought) for anything. I figured I would do a little reading, take a couple of tests, listen to some lectures, and be on my way. But I was in for a surprise. Instead of listening to a lecture on the first day, I had a group discussion with my professor about what the class would entail, and it was vastly different from what I had expected. There was a lot of self-directed learning involved, and a much bigger time commitment than I had anticipated. This class was going to force me to work hard and stretch my brainpower. By the end of the first class, I was feeling totally overwhelmed. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off.

The truth is that we all get overwhelmed sometimes. Maybe we set our expectations too low and get surprised like I did. Maybe we just find ourselves in a situation that requires more of us than we think we are able to give. But no matter what the circumstance is, we’re all overwhelmed from time to time. And when that happens, the first impulse is to give up. To throw our hands up in the air, declare that we just can’t do it, and walk away. But that’s not the correct response at all.

Because usually the feeling of being overwhelmed is a temporary one. It’s a result of getting a wealth of information and expectation at one time and not being able to process it. Once we can step away for a second, breathe, and think things through, we find that things aren’t really as overwhelming as they seem. Yes, my Maymester class is going to take up every free second I have from now until the end of the month, but honestly, it’s not that different from regular school. I’m just spending all my time on one class instead of four. But it’s not overhwelming; it’s manageable.

And maybe sometimes we do find ourselves in situations that are truly overwhelming. In those cases, we have to learn to trim the fat and focus on the things that matter the most. Maybe that means some items on the checklist go undone and someone gets upset with us. If that’s what has to happen, then so be it. Ultimately, you can only do as much as you’re capable of doing, and being overwhelmed by too much expectation is something that happens to all of us.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, know you’re not alone. I’m there now, and a lot of other people are there, too. If you take a step back, you may see that things aren’t as heavy as they seem. If so, carry on. But if you’re really in a situation that’s just too much for you, it may be time to think about things you can get rid of to get to a healthy place. Either way, feeling overwhelmed is temporary and can be dealt with, if you’ll do it in the right way. Good luck, friends, and I’ll see you soon!

Old Things

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post called New Things. It was all about how we should embrace change and be willing to try new things. They can be fun and exciting. They can open up new possibilities and opportunities. Plus, they’re just cool. Yes, I’m still a big fan of new things. But that’s not what I want to talk about today. Today, I want to talk about old things.

Last week, while digging through some stuff in my closet, I came across my old iPhone 5s. It came from a simpler time when phones actually fit comfortably into pockets and “phablets” were things only the tetchiest of techies carried. I was intrigued not only by how small it was, but by how intuitively I was still able to use it despite being on a significantly larger device (my iPhone 6 Plus) for a long time. It was like reconnecting with an old friend, and I really enjoyed it.

That experience got me thinking about old things and the place they have in our lives. I came up with a few simple thoughts on the subject, and I thought I might share them with you.

1. Old things are fun to revisit.

Once I pulled out my old iPhone, I didn’t want to put it down. I carried it around for a couple of days under the guise of “testing out the battery” and used it for everything I possibly could: texting, emailing, reading, tweeting, watching videos. I enjoyed using something different and revisiting something that used to be a part of my everyday life. Old things can be exciting and fun to revisit once they’ve been out of our lives for a while. It’s worth the time and energy to pull out old things and try them on for size every once in a while.

2. Old things are old for a reason.

As much as I loved playing with my old phone, there’s no way I’m going back to it full-time. It’s smaller size is cute, but I prefer my bigger phone for more productive activities. Plus all of the new software is being developed for the newer phones, so there are some features my old phone just doesn’t have. Old things become old things for a reason. They’re fun, but they aren’t always fitting replacements for new things. Sometimes new things are just more practical.

3. Old things can find new uses.

But that doesn’t mean old things can’t be useful, too. I’ve been thinking about how I can use my old phone, and I’ve come up with a couple of good ideas. I can carry it around and use it as a secondary device to record video or control presentations without tying up my phone, or I could pass it on to someone else who is in need of a phone. I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing with it yet, but no matter what I do, it’ll be better than just leaving the phone on a shelf. Because old things do have value and purpose if we’ll just take the time to find them.

I know this blog post is a little all over the place and maybe not the most relatable. I apologize for that. But that’s what I’ve been thinking about this week, and I thought I’d share it. Have a great day, friends, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!

Daredevil

If you don’t know that I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you probably haven’t been reading my blog for very long (or had very many conversations with me). The MCU started back in 2008 with Iron Man and became insanely popular with 2012’s The Avengers. The universe is so popular not only because superheroes are in right now, but because people like to see the overlap between the different films and how each movie is slowly coming together to tell one big story.

But the MCU isn’t just about movies anymore. Marvel started releasing some comics early on to go along with the films, and they released the TV show Agents of SHIELD on ABC in 2013. Now, the MCU is taking a further step into diversifying its mediums. Marvel has teamed up with Netflix to release five new series over the next three years, basically creating its own little mini-verse within the MCU. That mini-verse kicked off last month with the launch of the thirteen-episode first season of Daredevil, and it’s off to a wonderful start.

Daredevil tells the story of Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer-turned-vigilante who fights criminals on the mean streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Slowly throughout the story, we learn Matt’s story of losing his sight, embracing his newfound abilities, and transforming from the “devil of Hell’s Kitchen” into the superhero we know and love. Daredevil truly is an origin story.

Daredevil also features another major character: Wilson Fisk. He serves as the villain of the first season. But the story isn’t quite that straightforward. Fisk sees himself as functioning the same way Matt does: saving the city from the evils that threaten it. He actually serves as the main character in one episode, and it’s obvious that the show creators worked hard to make Fisk a character that audiences can feel sympathy toward. So Dardevil appeals to those who don’t want just a straightforward good-versus-evil story.

The other main characters are also wonderful. Foggy is Matt’s partner in his law firm and serves both as comic relief and as a means of heightening the emotion on the show. Karen starts off as one of the first people Daredevil rescues, but she quickly becomes an integral part of Matt’s life. And then there’s Claire, a nurse who finds Matt half-dead in a dumpster and quickly becomes his ally. This show was really well-cast, and I think it offers a good variety of characters for viewers to relate to.

I knew early on that Daredevil was going to be very different from what we’ve come to expect from Marvel. First of all, it’s rated TV-MA. This gives the show room to be grittier and darker than any other Marvel project. Sure, there’s some more language, but that’s not the main reason for the rating. This show is very, very dark. It explores some really scary themes and isn’t afraid to toe the line of moral ambiguity. And the violence. The violence hurts to watch. It’s not bloody or gory. It’s just so different from anything else that’s on TV right now. It’s creative, and it draws you in to the point that you really feel what’s going on.

Ultimately, Daredevil is what everyone wants in a superhero origin story: the tale of a person choosing to use his abilities to become more than he is and fight for the greater good. It’s complicated, gritty, and downright painful at times. But it’s a Marvel story at heart, and it’s well worth the watch. Daredevil was recently renewed for a second season, and it will soon be joined by the next series in the Defenders mini-universe, AKA Jessica Jones, which means there’s plenty more to come from Marvel and Netflix. So if you’re looking to get plugged into the Marvel universe for the first time, or if you’re a long-time fan looking for another piece of the story, Daredevil is for you. Check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, friends, and I’ll see you next week.

Screens

In a 2012 Parks and Recreation episode, the beloved character Tom Haverford (played by Aziz Ansari) gets into legal trouble after crashing his car due to texting and driving. In order to help Tom break his smartphone addiction, the judge comes up with an unusual punishment: Tom is not allowed to look at any type of digital screen for a week. This of course devastates Tom and leads to some funny attempts on his part to skirt around the ruling. Ultimately, the episode’s humor stems from the fact that Tom can’t imagine life without technology and struggles intensely when he’s forced to try to live without it.

I can sympathize with Tom, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. We spend a great deal of our time staring at screens: smartphones, TVs, computers, tablets and others. Our everyday life revolves around the things that we can do on these screens. We use them for communication, for productivity, for entertainment, and even for health and safety. Our screens can do everything, and so we spend a lot of time with them. We couldn’t really do life without them at this point.

As our dependence on screens has increased, so has their size. Imagine a phone from ten years ago compared with a phone today. Even imagine a phone a few years ago compared to phones today. Screens have taken over the entirety of our phones, replacing any physical buttons, and now the screens are increasing in size, making our phones even bigger. TV screens have gotten massive as their quality as improved, and we are just on the brink of the introduction of 4K resolution to consumers. Laptops and tablets pretty much stay the same size, but overall, screens are getting bigger and invading our lives more and more.

But they’re not just getting bigger. They’re getting more pervasive. Have you seen a Buffalo Wild Wings lately? Screens are becoming a part of our everyday lives to the point that we’re hardly able to avoid them. They’re in our bedrooms, our classrooms, our restaurants, our churches, our offices, our cars, and everywhere else. If there isn’t a TV or a computer in the room, we pull out our phones, allowing screens to become a part of the atmosphere we’re in. Even if we’re not using them, the screens are there, and they make a difference.

I once had a professor who refused to allow screens to invade the classroom space during our time together. He blocked our view of the computer in the room and had everyone take notes by hand. He didn’t make a big deal about it; it was just a part of his teaching style. But one day, he brought a TV into the room to show a video, and it was weird. The screen felt foreign, like it was invading a space where it wasn’t welcome. And I felt much better when I came back for the next class and saw that it wasn’t there. Because screens change things.

I’m not saying screens are bad. I probably spend more time staring at a screen than most other people I know. It’s my job, and it’s necessary for my education. Also, it’s juts a lot of fun. There are days when I feel like doing nothing else but staring at a screen for a while, and it can be great. I love screens! I’m just saying that they make a difference, and we might do well to be aware of that. I know I wrote a lot just to say that, but I hope this post has been helpful (or at least entertaining) to you. Thanks for reading, friends, and I’ll see you next week!

Alternating

I am very concerned about efficiency. I do my best to ensure that I can get the greatest amount of work done in the least amount of time possible while still doing it well. This has really come in handy throughout my lengthy (and still ongoing) education. It helps me stay on top of my assignments but still have time to sleep, connect with other people, and enjoy hobbies. Efficiency is what has gotten me this far.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about my method of ensuring efficiency and if it’s really the best thing for me. I’ve come to the conclusion that what I’m doing works well, so I’m not going to change it. But in the process of thinking through my approach, I thought it might be nice to actually write it out and share it with you guys not only for my own benefit but also in hopes that it might be helpful for you. So this week’s blog post will be a little more practical than reflective. I hope that’s alright with you. Here’s my approach to efficiency and getting stuff done.

Basically, the secret to my success is giving myself little rewards throughout the day. If I have a 20-page paper to do, I set small, specific goals, and then I reward myself every time I reach one. If my goal is to write a section, I’ll give myself a snack break when I finish that section. If I need to read a certain source, I’ll let myself watch an episode of TV or read a chapter from a fun book when I’m finished. Giving myself little rewards after completing small goals eventually leads to finishing the big project.

I call my approach alternating. I try to never get bogged down on one thing for too terribly long. I can’t write a long paper in one long sitting. I’ll get burned out. I have to switch to something else every once in a while, and that’s where the short goals and rewards come in. It lets my mind switch out of whatever mode I’m in so that it can rest and be ready when I get back to it.

I often switch back and forth between work and something fun. But sometimes, there’s just too much to do. So I have to switch between two or three different kinds of work. But even then, the same system applies. I choose whatever work I’m most looking forward to (or least dreading) and use that as my reward for finishing the more difficult or less fun work. For example, I will work on an assigned reading until I finish a chapter, and then I’ll let myself do something fun but still productive like working on the podcast I’m making with some friends. It doesn’t have to be switching between productive and unproductive. It just has to be switching between two (or more) things.

The benefit of this approach is that it practically removes the threat of burnout. I can switch back and forth between two productive things all day and be just fine. But if I try to do just one productive thing all day long, it takes longer and ends up worse because I burn myself out. I think alternating is the ideal way of tackling things that require productivity.

Now, I do recognize that there are times when this process doesn’t apply. If you’re in an extreme time crunch and absolutely have to get something done, then this process can be harmful. For example, I once put off editing a 45-minute video until the day before it was due, and so I had no choice but to focus solely on that assignment for a full day. But if you’re planning ahead and making sure you have plenty of time to do something right, I’d say alternating is the way to go.

So there you go. That’s how I get things done. It’s not profound or new or mind-blowing. But it works for me, and who knows, maybe it can work for you. If you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking with me through this sort of different blog post this week. I hope you have a great week, and I’ll see you next time!