History is Repeating Itself

“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

-Georg Hegel

The above quote is only partly true, at least to me, as history repeats itself only by those that haven't learned from history.

Every major changes in society was met with opposition. If we look at the civil war, in the US, there were those that wanted to end slavery and those that wanted to keep it - both parties believed, strongly, that they were correct in their beliefs.

In 1885, smallpox was ravaging the world until a vaccine came out that greatly reduced deaths by the disease. The vaccine was opposed by some even as many were dying from it. 

Fast forward to 2022, 2 years in a pandemic, and you have a group of people opposing vaccine mandates even though they've proven effective against COVID. If you speak to anyone who's against the vaccine you'll realize that they have a strong belief in their views.

History is repeating itself but only because some haven't learned from it.

What I find most annoying is when the opposition believe that what ever they're doing is for the greater good. That, somehow, they're misconception of reality will bring forth greater liberties than ever before if they were to succeed in their endeavors. It's very difficult for me to understand how someone fighting to continue slavery, for example, ever believed that his cause was the right one. What experience did he go through in order to believe that he has the rights to own another human being? What experience have people gone through in order to believe that vaccines, or social distancing endeavors, don't help fight off infectious diseases?

History is repeating itself because not enough people have learned from it.

Reading Struggles

My dad admitted to me that he didn't like to read because he had problems remembering what he had just read. I think we can all relate to this to a certain point. Some people have Dyslexia or other learning difficulties that adds up to the difficulty of learning new things from books. I would argue, however, that most people don't have any problems other than they get discourage too easily when attempting to read a book. 

The following are things that anyone that wants to read anything should keep in mind and be at peace with:

• You will not remember everything that you read: This is normal as not everything that you read will have a significant impact to leave a mark.
• Not everything needs to be remembered: Authors usually adds a lot of "fluff" to books that don't necessarily need to be remembered.
• You will not understand everything that you read: Some authors like to use fancy words to describe things which may confuse the reader.
• It's okay to take notes of what's important: Taking notes is a great way to remember the parts that you actually need to have remembered. Some like to write notes, or highlight, directly in their books but I usually prefer having a notepad on the side where I'll write important paragraphs along with some thoughts.

Reading is a form of meditation and, like meditation, is something you get better with over time. Don't get discourage if you struggle with a book. Give it time and you'll get it!

When Overtime Impacts Your Decisions Making Abilties

Most employee agreement type of contracts have clauses about overtime requirement. In some cases, working longer hours may help but if it occurs too frequently then the quality of the work is being sacrificed for quantity.

Jeff Bezos said in an interview that he has at least 8 hours of sleep because most of his work is about making decisions and you make better decisions while you're well rested. 

We may not be making the same types of decisions as Jeff Bezos is making but we're making decisions non the less and I'm sure they're better with a well rested mind than otherwise.

I consider myself lucky that I can count on my hands the amount of time I worked overtime where it negatively impacted my sleep as many have to go through this on a weekly basis. If this is your situation I would encourage you to look for other opportunities in your field or otherwise. If you keep doing this, in the longer term, it may have farther reaching consequences than simply negatively impacting your decisions making abilities.

The Universe doesn't care about Humans

A friend of mine once said that he believed the Universe was created for the purpose of human curiosity. In other words, if we weren't here then the Universe would cease to be. He's certainly not the only person to think this way and it's something that I simply can't agree with.

The origin of this belief screams creationism where everything is only 6000 years old. If this were true, that the Universe was only 6000 years old and that humans were only around for that long, then maybe the Universe would of been created solely for us but there's evidence that suggest that the Universe is much older than that.

If we look at our planet's history, you'll find that the Universe is more than 6000 years old and life thrived before the introduction of humans which suggests that the Universe existed prior to our existence, or awareness, of it. 

We we could possibly say, however, is that the Universe only exist to us while we're alive as its the only time that we are aware of it. 

The Universe existed before humans and it will continue to do so after we're all gone.

"Don't Live on Autopilot"

"Don't live on Autopilot" is a phrase I heard recently that made me realized that I was living on auto pilot ever since this pandemic began. While simplify some aspect of our lives is necessary, as to reduce the chances of spreading this virus, it doesn't mean that it should be to the point where we basically just eat/work/sleep which, admittedly, is all I've been doing for the past 2 year.

What this means, in reality, is that I haven't gotten out of my comfort zone much and this is something that definitely needs to changes as the only time we grow is when we're outside of our comfort zone.

Shake things up!

So what can be done about this?

• Learn a new skill - Now could a perfect opportunity to sharpen existing skill or learn a new one entirely.
• Change job/career - Covid changed the work landscape which, to some, may not of been for the better. Maybe it's time to start looking for a new job or change career entirely?
• Re-connect with friends and family - Join a new forum, start a chat with an old acquaintance on social media, expand your network of contacts.
• Embellish your living space - Is it time to renovate your home? Do you need new furniture?
• Visit your area - Pretend you're on a holiday in your area and go places you've never gone before (while respecting the restrictions).
• Prepare a gift for someone - Is there a holiday coming up? Is there a birthday? It's never too soon to start preparing gifts.
• Try a new restaurant - You may not be able to sit in a new restaurant but many still offer takeout options.
• Exercise/eat better - Some of us used to workout quite regularly prior to the pandemic. Now may be the time to jump back into it or look into it for the first time.

Those are but a few ideas that could get someone's life out of an autopilot period. Note that I didn't mention things like "watch a new series" as I think we can all agree that entertainment kind of adds to this problem rather than fix it.