Coping with cabin fever in a small cabin is not easy. Could be worse I suppose. I heard some earlier groups (maybe foreigners) were put in hotels that weren't very clean. Anyway, keeping active is tough but after a while, you just do it to break the monotony. Push ups, squats, pilates...
I decided that apart from the workout videos I have used before, it would be fun to try this. Guess I would have really struggled in Fanzine. Not easy (for me) but good fun. Also tried some others. Not as intense as a run but at least it gets the old ticker pumping. And learning something new triggers positive developments in cognitive capabilities, forcing the brain to develop new pathways. If I had persevered with learning to play the guitar, this would be a perfect environment/situation for it.
Space-wise, it's not ideal but just about big enough. With the nice view, it's also a good opportunity to try stuff like time-lapse photography. Oh, there's still work to do of course hahaha...
While I was doing a workout or thinking about one, I suddenly remembered this hotel in Stockholm that I was in a couple of years ago. They were ahead of their time in thinking about how to keep their guests occupied with healthy pursuits - in the room. This would have been great for me.
The other thing to do is read. It is really unhealthy to spend too much time online, not only because most of what you do isn't that important, but also really bad for your eyes and body. So I have made it a point to get up, look out in the distance to give the eyes a break, and also stand to read when I feel sleepy.
There is so much to learn still, to understand what others are thinking so that we can empathize more, and judge less. I had a Whatsapp chat with a schoolmate that was really good - we've known each other for a long time, but not well. I must confess I don't have very good friendships from school because I was not very active back then, and kept to a very small group that I eventually grew apart from anyway. So when my cohort had a reunion two years ago, it spawned many reconnections, including this friend who I met in London when he travelled there. And it turns out he's also an executive coach! We agreed that one of the most difficult parts of coaching is listening!! Funny and sad because listening is a very rare trait you find in many people these days. Everyone is in a hurry to tell you what they think, not to hear what you think.
(Sort of related to this: There is a Netflix series called "Pretend it's a city" in which the writer Fran Lebowitz, who's sort of like a female cross between Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld, gives her opinion on a wide range of topics, but mostly about New York city. And one of the lines from her that really got my attention was when she was asked if she ever got angry because of things she doesn't like. She said, "The anger is, I have no power, but I'm filled with opinions." Which pretty much describes the state of affairs in the world today.)
Coincidentally on this topic of friendship, today I was reading Law's Empire. It was recommended by my former boss who loved the book because it was written by his Oxford professor, Ronald Dworkin. It's fascinating because it isn't just about law, but also about politics, sociology, philosophy and is profoundly thought-provoking. And today I read a section about community. What makes our friends, friends? Are there certain pre-agreed conditions, obligations or responsibilities involved? It's fascinating because like many other things in life which we don't think deeply enough about, we just sort of adopt certain concepts almost unthinkingly, and yet which we recognise when we see it.
Anyway this is a long-winded way of getting to the point which I just thought of, and not because I had it in mind when I started writing this (which is an interesting point in itself - more on this later). The point being that we need to take care of not only our physical bodies but also our mind/intellect. And just as we grow stronger in physical exercise by pushing ourselves past previous real or imagined limits, so too do we need to improve our mental capacities by tackling tougher subjects.
Law's Empire is a book I started many many months ago. It is a tough read because it attempts to tackle very complex ideas, many of which as I said earlier, cut across different disciplines. I find myself reading and re-reading many passages because of the intricacies of the arguments - and which require a certain dexterity of language that is challenging to grasp. Ultimately though, the payoff is great when you do get it. But it is so difficult that I keep stopping, and turning to other books almost for relief. I am determined to finish it this time while in the hotel.
Back to the point about realising that I actually had a real point to make in writing this post. Writing is also a skill that you need to practice. I guess some people can work out in their head what they are going to say, and then put pen to paper. I am not quite like that. I start writing with just the seed of an idea, and sometimes I don't know where I am going with it and along the way I have a eureka moment, an epiphany and the rest of the post almost writes itself. Well, not quite but you know what I mean. (Also this is serendipitous because the sermon this week by Pastor Lilian touched on reflection. Again one of those things we don't do enough of. It used to be called daydreaming in my day hahaha...)
So long story short, don't play too many computer games or spend time just surfing because while you get better at the game, or get more information from social media, it is either not productive (you may end up later wondering "where did all that time go?" "what have I actually learned?") or not structured (you might be great at Trivial Pursuit but not much else) or both.
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