Week 1: Navya Rao, "Fact"?
Navya Rao
Week 1
“Fact”?
The world is weird in the sense that absolutely nothing is absolute. The universe is measured in terms of relativity. My purple can be your orange. The difference between these “facts” and opinions are that facts have been agreed upon globally for a long time relatively, while opinions vary extremely. With enough evidence and reasoning, anything can be fact.
But these “facts” that we digest as concrete, are what allow animals to live in harmony. Well, not really any animals other than humans, and maybe a couple species that we force to serve us as either food or just because they’re too adorable (How have dogs not united and revolted against us yet? Have they not seen what humans are doing to the Earth? Seriously!). We just worked harder to force our system, built on “facts”, on every inch of the Earth.
Maybe one day I’ll be able to write a blog disproving all the scientific and mathematical laws, and explain why everything is a lie, using a whole whiteboard full of calculations. However, today, this is a prologue.
Is the 3D real? Nope. But our brains are so powerful, that we have convinced ourselves that everything is a real and solid fact! Repetition and affirmation are so powerful that simply speaking words loosely dictates fate. It. All. Starts. With. Belief.
You scored a flat 50% on your last math exam. You don’t believe you can get a better score on the next? Congrats! You flunked again. You hear people talking behind your back about how annoying you are. You don’t believe you are deserving of love? Congrats, you no longer have loving people around you! Giving a thought your attention is like loading up a rifle with bullets. Think negative thoughts–you are filling up a M4 carbine pointed at your life, but think positive thoughts–and you are loading up rainbows in your four-leaf firearm!!
Obviously, paying attention to ideas that are out of reach won’t necessarily make things better. If I keep imagining the end of a war with intention, I won’t wake up to such news.
Instead, I can focus on my identity. Am I a person who works towards world peace? That was a trick question because I just decided that I am.
Similarly, are you a person that is good at math? Are you a person that everyone loves? Decide that you are. Feel like you are. And soon enough, you will be.
Creating a self identity is much more deeper than a 500 word blog can describe. But it is simpler in application. Bad things happen to me sometimes and I get stressed. My life is a constant cycle of things happening to me, but remembering that nothing is real enough to actually matter grounds me. In my opinion, this detachment has made me proud, rather than embarrassed, to be my authentic self. It would be appropriate to say that I have successfully loaded my four-leaf firearm with rainbows.
Thanks for sharing this take, Navya! I honestly agree with you so much. The photo you included at the end really puts everything into perspective—your problems are only as big as you make them out to be. Our planet and our universe are these huge places with billions and billions of creatures roaming around every day, and to think that one small problem can blow up one’s life— it’s absurd. But it’s also easy to forget that sometimes. I’m a huge overthinker and I get real anxious, real fast, and it takes a lot of purposeful thinking and deep breaths to calm myself down and remember that the sun will still rise tomorrow. I remember last year, before my math tests in Mrs. Ciz’s class, I would absolutely lose my mind. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and I would study for hours and hours to do well on the tests. But I would get so nervous on test day that the minute I sat down to take the test, all the knowledge in my head would vanish, simply because I wouldn’t believe I was prepared, even though I was. This was a recurring issue for me, so I confided in my mom, who gave me the same advice you preached in your blog. “Believe in yourself,” she’d tell me. She’d advise me to start saying daily affirmations, which I thought was ridiculous, but as I tried them, it became very calming for me. Suddenly, I started seeing better results on my exams. Sorry for this rant, but I think this really goes to show the true purpose of your blog—that anything can be possible for anyone if they just believe in themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Navya! I really like your take on how mindsets affect you. I love how you completely removed the distinction between fact and opinion. It was something I had never really thought about, but after you pointed it out, I realized how much I agreed with it. You also broke down your argument so well, and it was super easy to understand. I especially loved how you said that someone’s color could be seen differently to another person. It made me question whether I have been believing in the wrong things. I also definitely agree that your mindset affects the outcome of whatever you do. It’s something I’ve believed for a while, though not as strongly as you. I think I’ve been telling myself that I wasn’t prepared for any of my tests or presentations, but deep down I still held onto hope that I would do okay. That small hope was probably what helped me through all of those stressful assessments. Reading your blog made me reflect on myself and realize that I should also try to detach myself from the things that happen in my life more often.
ReplyDeleteHi Navya! I appreciate your humorous commentary throughout your post; it speaks to your personality as someone who is able to ask insightful questions and explore the answers with wit. Your passion is prevalent in every sentence you write, and helps me connect with your work even more. Your paragraph about manifestation especially resonated with me. I failed my first test in Mrs. Yazar’s math class last year, so my confidence fell and I failed my second one as well; however, as you say, I “loaded my four-leaf firearm with rainbows” and my grade turned around by the third test! I like how you directed this question towards exploring your identity as someone working towards world peace. Also, your point about how we convince ourselves into viewing what we believe as the truth was so profound; I have never thought of detachment as being positive, but your explanation has convinced me through enough reasoning that your opinion is fact.
ReplyDeleteHi Navya! This was a very interesting and enlightening read. The concept that our minds are more powerful than we think and shifting our perspectives can change our lives is something that I have thought quite a lot about, as well as something that I strongly believe in. A term that I think fits what you described perfectly is the manifestation method, law of assumption. Like you said, “It. All. Starts. Will. Belief.” Essentially, the law of assumption states that whatever you believe to be true about your life and identity will eventually become your reality. For example, if you constantly say affirmations to yourself that you are confident and smart, all while believing that it is true, then it will manifest into your reality. This is also similar to what you stated, “Feel like you are. And soon enough, you will be.” This seems delusional on the outside, but I think being a little delusional sometimes is necessary to succeed!
ReplyDeleteYou also described how detachment has made you unapologetically yourself. I love this way of thinking; the world is so big and many of our problems aren’t as deep as we make them to be. This is something that I am still working on, but I've definitely seen the impact of detachment in my life. I used to overthink a lot and have the tendency to strive to be perfect, especially when I was younger. Detaching myself from things like receiving a bad grade and a rough day has made my life feel easier to push through each day and to move on quickly. Obviously, I still overthink and have the perfectionist mindset, but I feel more aware of it and can control it better. Thank you for sharing your take on this topic!