Doing your thing when everybody else is doing their thing.

Life can be overwhelming. We live in a world of immediate gratification. We can access information with a few clicks; personal communication is expected to be quick and, yet tactful; and were are continually bombarded by the opinions, ideas, and rules set by those who can shout the loudest. Of course, these kinds of descriptions are not new to us, and most of us are pretty good at living in such a fast-moving world.

It seems to me that the days of patience and thought, reflection and strategy, are long gone. When a text message arrives, you have about five minutes before the sender begins to worry about the lack of response. We schedule several meetings a day, since it is so easy to do so. We witness every important event that occurs in the world, not because we want to, but because we cannot avoid it. We are experts at social agility, the ability to jump from conversation to conversation, topic to topic, without faltering. Some may call this kind of accomplishment “progress,” but others, including myself, are simply overwhelmed. And in this world, it doesn’t pay to be overwhelmed.

I hope that this blog of mine can help provide some advice for those who feel lost in this world. In this blog, I intend to write about several strategies I employ to keep my mind, my heart, and my body from being weighed down and broken from all the relationships and information I need to maintain. Over the past year, I have developed a system to keep my own personality and mentality consistent and reliable. Those who know me often wonder how I can keep so calm, even under difficult academic and social circumstances that drive others crazy. It is through my system of “Life Improvements” and other personal philosophies that I can do so. Believe me, I have seen and am not immune to the chaos of the modern world, but I cope well, and I hope that this blog can help others.

My “Life Improvements” are a series of one-liners that are easy to remember, and that can inform one’s daily living. Over the next several weeks, I will introduce and develop each of these improvements, so as to encourage others to adopt them as well, and to promote a discussion about how to live. These improvements have been developed through my own actions and serious reflection, and while this blog may seem quite personal, I hope that others take my thoughts and ideas to heart, and perhaps an earnest and important discussion on personal philosophy can develop. Thanks for reading.

-J. Zenker