Tag / growth

by yojeanyi

Decisions Are Just Bell Peppers

TIP #1: FRUIT OF THE SUMMER

look at all these delicious decisions

Crunchy and refreshing with a mild sweetness. Juicy but not sticky.

Bell peppers are fruits that can be eaten like an apple, whole or slices, and contain vitamin C and other good stuff. It always surprises me how easy they are to eat. They’re an excellent lifestyle fruit for their user friendliness.

It’s suspicious how easy they are to eat. Throw them in a backpack and they’ll be okay. Even if they are crushed, there’s only water residue- no sticky juices like those other fruits.

Maybe you prefer a dip in keeping with the settler’s summer tradition. It would be uncouth to consume a dip alone, unless it’s a light Tzatziki/ cacık dip with crushed coriander. Composed of yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, and any herbs- parsley, mint, dill– it’s wow. Munching on my bell peppers and tzaitziki dips, I have been thinking.

Despite my invisible achievements well into my third decade, I’ve navigated uncharted waters and strange crossroads. I suppose if you survive a catastrophe, that could be considered an accomplishment. Survival is not easy, yet little do we celebrate it.

Survival is not easy, yet little do we celebrate it.

TIP 2: Celebrate decisions >accomplishments > achievements

Achievements get trophies 🏆; accomplishments get checkmarks ✅; decisions get silence 🤫. Powerful decisions disappear into daily life like vegetables in vegetable chowder. You forget about them, but they’re doing all the work keeping you alive.

Decisions are harder to celebrate because they’re internal, sometimes messy and painful, and even transformative (quitting a job, leaving a relationship, starting something new).

The word “decision” comes from the latin “caedere” meaning “cutting the links.” It’s a cutting of ourselves from a “wholeness.” In the case of life, its a cutting into the wholeness of our identity and stability. Whether that’s getting out of a comfortable stagnation or an awful place, we have to slice, dice, and dip out of there ASAP. A life altering decision can suck because of the risk factor. But while there might not be reward, we need these decisions for prevention and immunity.

These “good” decisions that cut the deepest should be actively remembered in order to keep up the positive spirits; they are the silent architects of resilience, sometimes outweighing the glitter of achievements.

a beautiful user friendly decision

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF DECISIONS

  • Vitamin C: One medium-sized red bell pepper provides 169% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for vitamin C, making it one of the richest dietary sources of this essential nutrient.
  • Vitamin B6: Pyridoxine is the most common type of vitamin B6, a family of nutrients important for forming red blood cells.
  • Vitamin K1: A form of vitamin K, also known as phylloquinone, K1 is important for blood clotting and bone health.
  • Potassium: This essential mineral may improveTrusted Source heart health.
  • Folate, also known as vitamin B9, has a variety of functions in the body. Adequate folate intake is very importantTrusted Source during pregnancy.
  • Vitamin E: A powerful antioxidant, vitamin E is essential for healthy nerves and muscles. The best dietary sources of this fat-soluble vitamin include oils, nuts, seeds, and vegetables.
  • Vitamin A: Red bell peppers are high inTrusted Source pro-vitamin A (beta carotene), which your body converts into vitamin A.
by yojeanyi

Be dumb: how to struggle, learn, and cross apply strategies

People learn because they want to be competent, independent, discover, and challenge themselves. If something is too hard to learn, why do it?

A boulder might kill you to move, but breaking it into tiny rocks won’t. Without knowing it, what we learn starts to connect with things we know, making our life more interesting and dynamic.

Get comfortable with feeling dumb.

I initially began taking programming classes because I wanted to make my own website and I didn’t like the readymade options out there. I struggled in my first class, barely passing. The content was not only difficult, I was also feeling overwhelmed with how little I didn’t know in the field of Computer Science. That experience prepared me for the next class– I was ready to swim in my cold dumb state. Eventually the body warms up and takes you to the other side.

What does walking and learning have in common? The cross application of different continuity or endurance strategies. Then there’s running, which is just one step further than walking. When running, you create a rhythm between your breathing and body, a metronome for the experience. Thoughts have a hard time thriving. When learning gets difficult, intrusive thoughts insert themselves- observations, feelings, and inner monologue. When in deep concentration or focus, we unconsciously hold our breath. The oxygen deprived brain starts to dislike learning the new material. It hates computer science! It hates baking! When that happens I think about walking or running, just focusing on breathing and moving forward.

When I picked up guitar, my eyes would glaze over the music sheets, so I stuck to playing tab music. The extra effort in reading music was tedious. But to expand the repertoire of songs I could play, I began seriously viewing tutorials. Stripping the outcome from the experience, the tedium went away. Fingers and strings made sounds, and that’s all I needed to think about and enjoy.

Watching foreign TV shows is a great opportunity to write down vocabulary and grammar structures from subtitles. But watching the show takes twice, sometimes three times as long. I just want to find out if Suzy gets her revenge. When does learning hijack leisure? I asked myself, isn’t my recreational time sacred? But like going to a museum or touring a landmark, which I never questioned as both educational and recreational, I realized there were more opportunities to be killing two birds with one stone.

Being a novice at something is the start of growth. Not being a novice at anything is a good way to stay stagnant. People who want safety and comfort– what the learning process threatens– might pick up something and quickly lose interest when it gets difficult. So, to avoid this, enjoy feeling and being dumb.

People are smart, much more than they know.

And only a smart person would knowingly put themselves in situations where they would struggle or feel dumb. Continuously? This phase is just until you pass benchmarks of aptitude, then you get to really enjoy the subject that you’re mastering.