Happy Holidays and the End of Year
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to those who celebrate it. I’m writing this one as I await my flight to Perth.
Why am I travelling to Perth and not enjoying Christmas with the family? Christmas is not a huge deal for my family; it’s more so New Year is family time for us. This time of year is a usual reminder of how different we to the culturally appropriated norm of Western culture. The reason I’m going to Perth is for a friend’s wedding and just to experience something new.
This will also be my first time taking a proper break from work since starting my new job back in March this year, and I will be looking forward to seeing some friends that I haven’t seen in months and years.
My Favourite Things
YouTube Channel — Cinema Therapy
This is a great channel with two hosts, a therapist and a film director, who break down films psychological level.
Some really good videos that they have produced have resonated with me.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favourite shows. The hosts do a fantastic job analysing Zuko transformation through the series.
I liked this episode on Easy A. They also had Hannah Witton as a guest. They discussed many aspects of selflessness and how it can be used against someone. Additionally, Witton provides a very good description of consent, which made me want to read Witton’s book Doing It (which I’m reading now!).
As a side note, since reading Doing It, my mind has been opened to progressive ideologies that I had no idea about. Some could say this is “woke”, but I’m trying to remain an open mind without being a complete sieve either. But I would love to discuss these topics with a group of individuals (obviously without things becoming too heated).
This is possibly the best video I’ve watched on this channel. Masculinity, for me, has been a confusing topic. I’ve written about this before:
I’ve mentioned many pieces of content and literature on this topic too. This video is great because it breaks down toxic masculinity (which is associated with traditional masculinity) — the host labels it as “limiting masculinity”. Limiting masculinity had its benefits such as protection and provision. However, some downsides include homophobia and treating the female gender as property rather than human beings. Aragorn represents a good male archetype — someone who can “decapitate orcs and write poetry”. In other words, be a GENTLEman.
Podcast — Do You F*cking Mind
Hosted by Alexis Fernandez, I’ve binging a lot of her episodes. Fernandez has a Masters in Neuroscience and in her podcast, she attempts to combine psychology and neuroscience to offer practical advice for navigating relationships and achieving success in life.
I love her delivery with a plethora of swear words as well as honest advice. It’s only of those podcasts that I wish I had known about earlier in my life but happy to have discovered now.
A lot of her advice is great so I can’t pinpoint a particular episode but here is some advice that helped me:
On imposter syndrome — if you can’t own your bad decisions, then you will struggle to own the good things that happen to you because of your effort.
The importance of morning and evening routines.
Setting boundaries and becoming more comfortable with yourself.
Journalling and writing down feelings so you don’t enter a continuous negative thinking pattern.
Exercise isn’t just for the physical body; it’s for the mind.
When you do things, don’t do it to show up to others, do it to prove something to yourself — this is self-love.
Thanks for reading again! I’m going to try and be more consistent in writing next year. I just feel I have nothing great to offer in these writings.
Again, have a good Christmas and New Year.
Stay focused,
Shivan