Blood Pressure Blog

Prior to regular posts, this is more on the serious side, reflecting more on what occurred in my life and what I see rather than talking about usual random-ass nonsense.

I initially had the thought for this topic when I normally have some of my most head-scratching ideas – on the same level of “trancending space-time nonsense” as Neil DeGrasse Tyson to “Let’s get 15 pounds of ANFO and blow up watermelons in the desert” as Dan Bilzerian. I generally consider myself as a pretty introspective dude, and what better time to do some personal introspection than the end of the year.

2020 was not a year, it was a vibe. A shitty, messy vibe that brought out the best, the worst, and frankly pushed myself to my own limits in a positive and negative way. I generally have a million ideas in my head swirling around that’s like the feeling of being on paint thinners, airplane glue, and smelling salts all at once, so here is a glimpse into what I generally think about myself, the people I interact with, and the world in general.

You may not care about any of this and some of my plight… and frankly you don’t have to read it as well…

The point of this article is to answer a very simple question – Are You Better Off? (No, I am not going to rip off any Parks and Recreation episodes). The value of the question is one that is criminally undervalued, maybe not on a surface level, but on a so called, actually what-is-the-answer-to-this-question? We’ve heard motivational speakers in TED talks and Lincoln commercials give lengthy explanations about taking stock of our own lives and finding how we’ve grown, but how often do we find ourselves actually finding the answer to this question? How often are we pushing ourselves to find the painful answer that – “No, I am NOT better off”. I believe there is a massive rift in between knowing and understanding, and I believe that young adults and especially us in our early 20s fail to acknowledge this based on some form of procrastination, or boredom, or disinterest, or simply having a day-by-day mindset.

Let’s take an example – a year ago I had my sights set on taking a job at some big-ass tech firm. During the year, I realized I made the terrible choice of going to grad school and had to live with the misery for 6 more months, got into a scary car accident, failed several back-to-back job interviews, and saw others around me get those same jobs at those same big companies leaving myself in this semi-depressive, emotionally, mentally drained, not-really-feeling-sorry-for-myself state. I was failing back-to-back with a record of 0-16 and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. You ask me if my life is better off now – hell fucking yeah.

The crux of asking ourselves this question… and finding an answer, is the first baby step. I believe when a person has decent success, one should recount or at least mentally note what made them successful to begin, for future reference. In my case, a few weeks unplugged and a new strategy helped me through my plight. Success does not come without luck, and as shitty as it sounds, the pandemic could not have come at a better time, that forced me out of my seemingly-lonely living condition to one more conducive to support.

Here is what I generally leaned, in the form of two emotions that I felt –

The first one was relief, and instead of explaining it, this gif does a fantastic job –  

The second one was freedom, and here is a great point to discuss, because out of this sense of freedom the other major thing in my life was born, the blog. The blog was born out of my hatred for school. I believe school is pretty much glorified brain-washing institution whose sole purpose is to churn out students that think, act, and treat themselves, their peers, and their communities in the very predictable and way. This by no means is a bad thing, as I believe that there is likely more good that comes from it than harm, but the general, cautiously procedural way of tackling problems and projects, taught in universities can reflect some of the joyously whimsical, clever, and dangerous way our society has evolved.

And here is where we must go back to the question we ask ourselves – Are We Better Off, and discuss why it’s worth to ask this question in the first place. I believe “Prof.” Matthew McConaughey summed it up in his Oscar acceptance speech for Dallas Buyers Club, in which he stated – “my hero’s me at 35.” You see every day, and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing”.

The fact of the matter is, asking ourselves this question gives us a role model that we all strive to be for, ourselves. Instead of looking up to certain other people and idolizing them, only to find out they failed to pay child support or have a slavish devotion to Taco Tuesday, we take these external goals and apply them to ourselves 5years, 10 years in the future.

That being said, let’s talk about 10 so-called “resolutions” I want to accomplish in 2021 (some have been recycled from 2020 lmao) –

1. Lose less money on options
2. Don’t even consider investing in your high school friend’s multi-level marketing scheme
3. Somehow travel to Africa and not get lost
4. Become fucking jacked (recycled)
5. Gamble smarter (and not on the Denver Broncos)
6. Wear a blazer at least twice during the year
7. Don’t sleep 11 hours on Thursdays
8. Date someone (recycled)
9. Positive vibes only
10. High energy low expectations always (recycled)

Let kick some ass in 2021!