A Week's Flow of Events, and Some Scattered Thoughts

I used to find “keeping a diary” quite annoying—having to organize myself every day felt like such a hassle. Now I’ve adapted to it, and actually find it’s pretty good. It’s a way of processing the day’s observations and learnings, helping me understand myself more deeply.

This week, life flowed through various mode switches.

Wake up at 7:30 AM, go to the lake to stretch and practice standing meditation, then head to the cafeteria for breakfast, and dive into the lab for experiments. A short break at noon, then the afternoon might be spent in the dorm tinkering with my personal website, or in class. Around 4 PM, when my body needs a mode switch, I go exercise—running for an hour.

This week, most of my time spun around in this routine. But there was also a hike on the MacLehose Trail in Hong Kong.

The night before departure, I was beyond excited, thinking about how I’d get to go out with over sixty people from the school’s hiking club, meet new friends—I felt so happy, so full of anticipation. For this trip, I deliberately loaded up on energy the day before, eating super generously.

But the actual experience of the journey had subtle deviations from what I’d imagined. I realized that even the most beautiful scenery needs to be shared with the right people. Without a companion you can really talk to, long-distance hiking is actually quite tedious. Of course, enjoying your own present moment is also important. That hike also taught me how to prepare for next time—things like packing weight, and planning transportation back ahead of time. That evening, as a visitor unable to catch a taxi on the streets of Hong Kong, that feeling of being alone and helpless was quite tricky.

After returning, life went back to its regular track. Eating, attending class, doing design, having meetings, chatting with friends. In the gaps between these daily activities, certain thoughts keep surfacing.

On Focus: An Eternal Battlefield

I’ve found that my biggest enemy might just be “lack of focus.”

While doing experiments, my mind wanders to check an activity’s random pairing results, while simultaneously replying to someone on WeChat. Result: the experiment doesn’t go well, and the activity side isn’t handled either—a total mess. In the afternoon while working on the website, when I should be immersed in it, I can’t help wondering why someone hasn’t replied to my message yet.

This state of multitasking is the main reason I’m unhappy and can’t be present. I hate this feeling. I’ve realized that when doing something, I really need to do it seriously. If I’m going to do it, do it until I’m satisfied; if I don’t want to do it, don’t do it. Especially when doing design or building websites—if the result looks like garbage even to myself, my mood tanks. I really need to look at others’ excellent work more, learn how others write and create. That’s important.

On Exercise: A Body-Mind Rescue

Before heading out to run in the afternoon, there’s always some inner pain—I have to force myself into that scenario.

But the magical thing is, once I actually start running, the painful feeling continues, yet after half an hour of running, I actually want to keep going. When I finally finish an hour of running, I feel like the whole world has changed. It’s as if some active hormones are churning inside my body, and my hormone levels truly reach a “happy” plateau.

I’ve realized I absolutely cannot underestimate the function of exercise. Every day I must, must, must have some form of exercise—whether running, standing meditation, or hiking. It’s like a rescue mechanism. No matter how bad my state is, no matter how desperate I feel, exercise can pull me out.

On Reading: And Those Things Rooted in My Bones

I’ve been reading “Destiny” recently, and I love it so much.

The Minnan cultural feeling in the book—I feel like it’s something rooted in my bones. Honestly, I do believe in deities. When I read those fantasies and writings about gods, I feel a sincere sense of beauty, a kind of intoxication. Just like reading itself—even if I only read for twenty minutes a day, my entire mind gets inspired and cleansed. Sometimes it feels like cleaning my soul.

On Interpersonal Relations: Openness and Acceptance

Communicating with different people really does open up your mind.

Discussing activity design, in the back-and-forth of advancing processes, I always learn many details—like treating every guest and audience member equally. “Don’t put too many constraints on yourself, don’t suppress yourself too much”—that feeling of everyone gathering to chat is also quite wonderful.

Of course, there are worries too. Like when I send someone a message and don’t get a reply, I keep holding that in my mind. This is actually a bad mindset—using others’ responses as a standard for judging myself. I need to break this habit. Once a message is sent, the power of interpretation lies with the other person. Say what you want to say, feel good about it yourself, no need to think too much.

Anyway, we’re all growing.