Tag: new year

Posted in The Here and Now

Be Ruthless

Posted on by kenechukwuAU

I was going through old journals and I had a page from March last year with nothing written on it, save for the words “be ruthless.”

I perceived ruthlessness as going after what you want at any cost. Willing yourself to cut out distractions and hurdles keeping you from success; whether that success be getting into grad school or getting a grilled cheese.

I thought it sounded inspirational and cute so I made this graphic, spending close to 45 minutes on it. Not gonna lie, the majority of that time was spent choosing fonts. I finished it, saved it, and only then did I think to look up the word ruthless. “Ruthless. Adj. Having or showing no compassion for others. Cruel.”

YIKES. Okay, that wasn’t exactly what I was going for. I really should have Googled that beforehand.

I don’t think you have to be cruel to others to get to the top, but you may have to be inwardly ruthless from time to time.

This year brings with it a great deal of uncertainty for myself and many other recently- and soon-to-be-graduated seniors. The rest of our lives start right now. Be ruthless in your endeavors but be as compassionate as you possibly can. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Posted in The Here and Now

It’s 2016. Black Lives Still Matter.

Posted on by kenechukwuAU

Of course, all lives matter. However, given the continuing injustice and violence in our society that is disproportionately faced by people of color–specifically black people, BLACK LIVES MATTER is important.

Individual bigotry and structural racism have to end. We all have too much to lose and so much to gain. Do we want to challenge other evils such as poverty, sexism, war, and homophobia? Of course we do. But when one of us is chained, none of us are free.

As Yoko Ono said, “A dream we dream alone is only a dream, but the dream we dream together is a reality.” Don’t let basic human compassion and equality continue to be just a dream.  Let’s reason and work together to be the change.

Posted in The Here and Now

Time Isn’t Real, But Happy New Year

Posted on by kenechukwuAU

I hadn’t anticipated making this post, but I was so overcome with nostalgia when just the other day I was standing in the same spot I had stood in to ring in 2015. I was wearing the same shoes. I was running on the same amount of sleep. It was the first time I had been back in that spot in just over 360 days and it the question immediately struck me: So, what has changed?

As much as I want to say I am a completely different person leaving this year as I was beginning, that’s simply not true. Honestly, what does it mean to change? Is that why we make resolutions every year? To try our hand at becoming different people? We can say we’ll work out every day or always tip +20% or never tell lies but it won’t improve us at our core.

Resolutions shouldn’t be about specific actions it should be about mindsets. They should be guidelines and mantras we set for ourselves as a viewpoint through which we make those decisions to do those actions on a case-by-case basis. That’s the only way we can ever say we’ve succeeded.

If your outlook hasn’t changed, you haven’t changed.

This year, challenge yourself to make resolutions based on what you want to achieve in life not just in 2016.