Hey y'all,
This summer I'm returning to university to finish my undergrad degree, and I just wrapped up my first week of classes! I have one more Literature class to satisfy the English component of my degree, which means a LOT of reading and writing. It was suprising, actually, how many papers we had to pump out in this first week. Our first assignments were on the book 🧟♂️ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and 👨🔬 Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
We all know the jist of these stories, and I went into the assignments with a fair amount of confidence that I could just get away with winging it. But when I the time came to put words on the page, that confidence proved insufficient. I had all of these ideas in my head about the stories, and about what they meant. I felt like I knew what I wanted to say. But the task of actually formulating those feelings into a coherent essay forced me to realize that my thoughts weren't clear enough yet. I had general ideas, but I couldn't back up those ideas with anything concrete and precise.
See, there's a gap that exists between ideas and knowledge. Have you ever listened to someone talk about a subject, and you feel like you know exactly what they're saying, but then you try to explain it to someone else and you immediately feel lost? I have, for sure. That experience is a marker that you haven't formalized the ideas in your mind. They're still drifting around in your head, as unrealized potential and it takes work to turn them into something tangible and real. Writing is a process that allows you to bridge that gap. It forces you to back up your claims with evidence. Its an investigation that requires you to part with your preconcieved notions, and materialize your thoughts in a form that you can share with other people.
I see writing as a form of thinking. REAL thinking. Not the arbitrary and tempermental mess that goes on in my head all day long. It's a ticket aboard a "train of thought" that helps me get where I need to go.
❤️ My Favorite Things this Week
🎙 Podcast - Listening to Cam Hanes on Joe Rogan's podcast this week. The guy is an absolute beast. He's a bowhunter and an ultra-marathoner who regularly runs a marathon on a day.
😎 Oliver People x Cary Grant Sunglasses - Gilt is having a rediculous sale on the OP x Cary Grant 2 sunglasses right now. They're 100 bucks. If you need a pair of sunglasses for the beach this summer, these are a great choice.