Research Is Killing You

If you are anything like me, the first thing you do when a problem arises is research. Your parents are nagging you to start finding your passions and finding ways to earn money? Research. Want to make homemade peanut butter? Research. Have the sudden urge to start a blog? Research. Luckily for us, there is tons of amazing content out there, from Youtube videos to blogs to podcasts to photographs, you name it. Unluckily for us, it’s easy to fall into the trap of going on endless, targetless research sprees in attempt to find EXACTLY what you’re looking for, mindlessly going from blog to blog, video to video. What do we get out of it? Next to nothing.

You can research all day on writing novels: how to make your characters relatable, how to find your ‘voice’, how to write action scenes, the list goes on. The easy thing to do? Lie to yourself and tell yourself that it’s a good thing that you’re sitting here reading everything you can on novels, and continue doing it because the thought of actually starting a novel is intimidating. Sadly, the best thing to do is not always the easiest, and you’re technically not doing anything until you type those first few paragraphs to get a feel for the characters and setting.

So what do you do when you’re in the middle of one of these Google deep dives? STOP. Stop researching, stop thinking, and just do it. Of course, some things require a bit of research, you can’t just decide one day that you’re going to bake a cake, but not have a recipe. Get the bare minimum of what you need to know before you start, and just do it. Sure you will make mistakes along the way, but who doesn’t? People who are able to say they never make mistakes are people who don’t take risks and do things to become better people. We are constantly changing and the only way to continue that flow is to do things.

So if you happened to find this post during a un needed research session, stop, take a deep breath, and just do it. Or if you don’t take my advice, at least come to terms with the fact that you will never get this thing done. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in my next post.

Me Literally Just Going Off On A Tangent About Our Existence

I have a very love hate relationship with exploring the unknown. Now many people do, no matter how much they enjoy or despise leaving their comfort zone, and i’m no different. But… i’m also not what someone would necessarily call ‘normal’. So here’s my side of this common fact.

Ignorance is both a blessing and a curse. The more you know, the less you have to fear, but the less you know, the less you really have to worry about. An example of this is that most people don’t understand how someone could hate someone based on what they choose to wear that day when they are young, but then when they get teased  for wearing a big red beanie, they won’t know how to react, and might even take their words seriously.

What does this have to do with adventure? Well, usually an adventure is when someone or people go to explore things that they don’t know much about which cures ignorance. Whether it be you’re going sky diving or you’re sending out your first college application, it’s still teaching you about the world, and giving you the chance to leave your comfort zone.

I originally got this idea from Kurzgesagt, a Youtube channel that questions life itself. (Link to them here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q) The world is so big and so old, that wether Jimmy dumped you in highschool or not, in the long run, doesn’t matter. Though it is hard to imagine, considering humans are self centered people, we are buy a tiny fraction of existence. Are the future generations going to care whether you made your bed this morning? No. When the Earth suddenly implodes, erasing all of humans from the universe, is it going to care that you spilled your coffee on your only clean skirt? No. And the sooner we understand that, the happier we will be.

When I first realized this, I was completely blown away, and felt like the wisest person on Earth. The universe is so big, taking the time to fuss over the little things would be like if the ruler of the world took the time to listen to a single person’s thoughts, and no one else's. That is just one person compared to the billions of people that have their own thoughts and feelings that also want to be heard. Yeah, you may have spilled your soda all over the floor, but you also saw the cutest dog on the way. In short: Do what you love and if anyone has a problem, link them back to this article.

Now going back to the topic of adventure, have you always wanted to style your hair a certain way but worried what others may say? Why does it matter what they say? No one’s going to care in a hundred years when we no longer exist. If you enjoy spending half of your income on paintings of oddly shaped pillows, then you spend that money.

In short: calm down, there's no need to stress about the small things, because we’re not going to be thinking about that when the world is ending and the next biggest species is taking over the world. Thanks for reading, comment your thoughts and opinions, and I will see you in another blog.

Just A Few Indie Games

If you know me well enough, you know that I LOVE indie games, and itch.io is practically my life source. So, since I love them, indie games might as well be a blogging topic for me. I will list a few of my favorites and add a little description, so you can see if you want to try them out for yourselves.

Chook & Sosig: A cute game made by Tookipalooki about a cat with abnormally long arms named Sosig, a ghost chicken named Chook, and a cow. You can go on a few wacky adventures together, like to a haunted house to solve a few mysteries or to a pretty forest of lanterns to discover a part of Chook's past. Very short, you can complete it in less than an hour, and a good game if you are just looking for something to do.

Sacramento: A game by Dziff where you get to explore beautiful purple watercolor landscape, filled with plants and flamingos! From flying fish to giant flowers, you get a limited amount of time to explore this world full of pinks and purples. I defiantly recommend this if you enjoy the art in games.

Undertale: A very popular game created by Toby Fox. This game is heavily story based, so I will try not to go too in depth as to not spoil it. You are a child that has fallen down a large hole in Mount Ebott, and have been greeted by some friendly (and not so friendly) monsters that guide you through your journey. As I said, this game is HEAVILY story based with a few battles here and there, and takes several hours to complete, and that's just if you want to conquer one of the many endings.

Mad Father: A horror game created by GameShed about a young girl who makes the mistake of leaving the comfort of her bedroom on the anniversary of her mother's death. She teams up with a mysterious sales man and another child, until she learns about her fathers secret. She fights against her fathers "test subjects" as she ponders weather she should remain loyal to her father after the crimes he has committed. This game is also heavily story based and takes several hours to complete. (Warning: gore and death)

If you want more recommendations, tell me in the comments! I have about a thousand at the top of my head that I would like to share, but I also don't want this post to be too long. Anyway, thanks for reading and hope to see you again soon.

Why It Doesn't Matter What Other People Think

Before we get to the point of this blog, I want you to answer these next questions honestly, saying either yes or no.

-Do you have all As in school?
-Have you ever written and published a book?
-Can you play an instrument?
-Do you know more then 1 language? More then 2?
-What about Money, do you have a lot of money?
-Are you considered popular?
-Do you live up to today's beauty standards?
-Are you perfect?

Now that you have answered those questions, I will tell you the meaning of them: Nothing.

You just wasted about a minute of your time focusing on things you can't, or haven't done, for no reason other then to remind yourself that you haven't done them. This is inspired by the fact that no matter what you do or who you are, somebody will always see the worst in you. If you're failing school, some people will only see that, and not the fact that you don't see a point in passing because you already make a steady income selling hand made cards. You will always be seen as dumb and lazy in their eyes. Do you have a messy house and run down clothes? You will be seen as a slob to some, even though you spend most of your time and money traveling to make the most out of your life.

The lesson to be learned is that people will say what they're going to say, because usually they only see one side of the story. They are basing their opinions on small quarters of a story, instead of the big picture. Your first reaction would be to hate them, but then you would be doing just what you hate them for doing. All you know is that they base their opinions on small parts of a story, and that's it.

In short: It doesn't matter what other people think. They don't like you, they don't have to stick around. Thank you for reading, and hope to see you next time.

How to Not Take No For An Answer

Many people can agree that they have had or seen encounters when they had to say no. I'm not talking just when they have been asked to take a survey, or buy the latest gadget, but just in general. An example would be that if yesterday you wanted a friend to go see a movie with you, but they refused.

There are many ways to avoid things like this, like just not asking, but why do that when this article can give you simple tips to get that yes you desire, and more often

This article is inspired by this video, The Introvert's Guide To Networking by Charisma On Command. Charisma On Command is a Youtube channel all about, well... charisma! From teaching you how to destroy self doubt to how make people like you, this is definitely a channel to binge watch when you need some brain food.

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAPySGLL3gg 

almost everyone loves talking about themselves, so give them that opportunity today! Back to the example of your friend not wanting to see that movie, think about why they would like it. Don't just use the "I really want you to go" or "you will really like it" excuse. You want them to go because they will like it, so prove it! Let's say your friend is OBSESSED with koalas, and the movie is a documentary on koalas. They prefer action movies over documentaries? Don't lie about the movie being an action movie, tell them that the movie covers how to help koalas, so she can take action in helping koalas, and even expand her knowledge on them, giving them the opportunity to inform others on koalas, and maybe even get them to want to help koalas also. This all ties in on talking about THEM, They can get others to help koalas, they can help the koalas, etc.

A way to get people to say yes more often in business is to be unique. Don't go up to someone asking weather or not they want to take a survey, instead ask them about their day! Instead of asking an endless amount of people "would you like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?", TELL them they should buy some cookies, and tell them why. Are you saving up to donate to your local pet store? Tell them that they could save a puppy by buying your cookies. Going to a theme park with the money? Say that them buying cookies will not only give them something delicious to eat, but also give your troop the opportunity to use money and time management skills, and put them to the test. 

Have anymore tips on how to get that yes? Tell us in the comments! As always, have a better then average day.