The End
This site was created as part of a class at Simon Fraser University titled, Publication of Self in Everyday Life.
As part of the class, we were required to develop one post a week about the process of creating our website. The teaching team supported the course in this endeavour, by providing materials to reference and prompts to adhere to. In the course, we referred to these posts as “process posts”; each and every post on this website that has the word regarding in the title is a “process post.”
This post is the final “process post” that will be created for the class.
Unfortunately, I was sick for last week’s lecture and unable to make it, however, I do know that the lecture was about community and am able to access the readings and slides from the course. Subsequently, this final process post is going to be about the importance of rest and community.
Rest
Last week, I fell sick.
When I was sick, I came across a Linkedin post by TED Conferences which made the point “by doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive and creative self. It might feel weird and uncomfortable at first, but boredom truly can lead to brilliance.”
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What the post explained, is the value that you receive when you take time to sit with your ideas. It explained that when you take time to do nothing, you are allowing your brain to process all the information from your life so that you can spend time daydreaming and realizing your aspirations in life.
Truthfully, over the course of the semester, I cannot help but feel that I have spent too little time doing that.
However, it makes sense. Just see my post 30 Minutes: Working a 99 Hour Work Week. Since making that post, I did experience a period of severe burnout but thankfully recovered quickly after having a few days of rest.
When I was sick last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time reflecting on my life, and as a result, I honestly feel much more in tune and aligned with myself than before I was sick.
Ironically, having no rest is what truly has allowed me to realize the value that rest does provide.
Community
On the internet, there are communities, that would not exist if it were not for the internet.
One such community that I am incredibly thankful to have participated in is Lookout Landing, a Mariners fan site, with an incredibly loyal audience and fun community.
I found the site sometime in 2016 and have ever since been a follower of the site. In fact, almost every morning one of the first things that I do is take a look at posts which the site calls Moose Tracks. Moose Tracks are daily posts that share links to news around baseball. However, the content of the posts themselves are only a small part of the Lookout Landing experience, the comments below each post is where you actually get the opportunity to engage and talk to individuals in the lookout landing community. Typically Moose Track posts have around 300 comments per day, and if something big in baseball happens you can guarantee that these posts will have 500+ comments.
Although based off my initial explanation it may not seem this way, Moose Tracks are actually only a small part of what makes Lookout Landing what it is. The staff of the site also posts game recaps, game threads (for discussion), game charts, analysis, creative writing pieces and more. All content based around the Seattle Mariners.
Although I myself rarely comment and am a bit more of a lurker, I still feel very much a part of this community and it has helped fuel my Mariners fandom.
Lookout Landing most certainly is my favourite online community, they have a fantastic audience, great policy, and even better writers.
If you are at all interested in the Seattle Mariners, I highly recommend checking out some of the posts on the site.
The Secret to Maintaining Energy and Creating Great Products
We are a product of the people around us.
This is a fact. Simply start hanging around a different group of people and evaluate your speech pattern before and after. It will change.
People around you also influence how you think of and view yourself as a person. A lot of the time, the people around you will either provide you with energy or drain you of it.
Community is key to shaping who we are and providing us with energy to move forward.
We are a product of the decisions we make.
The decisions we make, forge the path that we take and subsequently shape the history and future of our lives. When we do one thing, it will close some doors and open others.
Oftentimes, the decisions we make are impulsive. When we are well-rested and aligned with who we truly are as people, these impulsive decisions can be effective. However, when we are tired and in dire need of rest, we often make poor and sloppy decisions.
Rest is critical to the decisions we make.
It should also be noted that we all have the opportunity to choose who it is that we spend time with. Rest enables us to choose the right communities for us to be a part of.
To maintain energy, be our best selves, and subsequently make great things, it is critical we are well rested and engaged with the right communities.
References
Zomorodi, M. (2022). By doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive. Ted Conferences. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ted-conferences_by-doing-nothing-you-are-actually-being-activity-7003032527359672321-dEjR/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
