Similar Posts
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
Sova Fanart 3: Class Unit 1 Day 3
It’s been a full week since I last drew for this drawing competition. I’ve been feeling a lot of dread because there are so many details in drawing Sova and I don’t feel any closer to getting better at him because it takes so long to draw a full figure.
I drew for a full hour but didn’t get very far.
Here was the reference:
Here is my rough sketch:
And here is my lineart:
The lines don’t feel that confident and don’t seem to be creating forms, more just tracing lines.
I feel that I need to slow down. I like the idea of the exercises but I feel that they need to be broken down further into smaller syllabi. Since I don’t have much time to draw every day and each task every day feels a bit daunting and overwhelming, I need to break them down further to learn at a fast rate.
I also wish I could draw from the live model, but the issue is that you can’t hold an active shot (like shooting or doing the ultimate).
At the same time, I said I would embrace failure and I did. I still believe in my overall plan and I believe when I look back, this will actually be helpful even though its painful right now.