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Privilege: The Tale of Two Airbnbs
So I just changed Airbnbs in France and it made a massive mental difference.
The first Airbnb was fine. It looked nice and modern and was in the heart of the city. But the bed was uncomfortable and it was small and everything felt dark and closed.
The outside felt dirty and dark and the “main attraction” was the Carrefour (a french grocery that was extremely close by).
The second Airbnb was very different. It was over twice as large (55 m2 vs 20 m2), filled with natural light and greenery and was near a park (Jardin des Arenes de Cimiez) and a museum (Musee Matisse).
The difference in mentality was so massive I was floored. In the first Airbnb I felt:
- Depressed
- Unmotivated to work
- Tired
- Not feeling like I’m on vacation
While in the new Airbnb I felt:
- Like I was on vacation
- Full of energy and enthusiasm
- Ready to get work done
- Feeling creative and relaxed
The interesting thing was, that my girlfriend told me that the new Airbnb was in a much much nicer and richer neighborhood and this got me thinking. This is the definition of privilege – the ability to grow up in an environment that nurtures you and gives you energy instead of sucking it away.
I’ve never believed in leveling the playing field for the sake of fairness because fairness is both a subjective and impossible standard to meet. Instead, I’ve been interested in creating a more productive society as a whole and I think that by creating better spaces for all of society people would feel more energetic and productive. I only experienced the change in physical space, in greenery and natural light and calm and quiet. What would happen if you were able to get a better mental environment, with more supportive loving people? This is why children in single-family homes and substance abuse have it so hard in getting ahead. They don’t have the mental environment to live up to their full potential.
This has a couple of implications for me:
- Money is not everything, but it is important in getting you into a good environment
- Don’t skimp out on rent or places to stay on vacation, the environment is everything
- Surround yourself with nurturing people who help you feel peaceful and energetic
- Take care of yourself and the space around you
Singing Relaxed Solved
I’ve always wanted to find a way to sing relaxed no matter what position I’m in, standing, sitting, playing the piano.
I figured it out finally.
It’s actually quite simple.
Relax everything, specifically the jaw, shoulders, and stomach.
Put all the tension right above the stomach (at the diaphragm).
Sova Fanart 2: Class Unit 1 Day 2
UNIT ONE: Sova Model Studies | Day 2 – Half Body
Today I was supposed to work on the upper body, but I found a really cool pose and decided to work on that instead. Unfortunately, it took a very long time to sketch out and I was also very exhausted from drawing until 4AM yesterday. I also had a lot of travel and work coming up so I was a bit stressed and overwhelmed.
I feel sometimes that I put too much on my plate for a challenge. I definitely felt overwhelmed coloring a drawing with this much detail.
This was the rough sketch:
And this was my attempt at more refined line art:
And for reference I used this pose:
