Do You Think Outside the Box or Are You Sane?
Song Of The Week
As I slip back into the nostalgia of my emo phase, there’s one song that’s creepily wormed its way into my top five: "Car Radio" by Twenty-One Pilots. Back then, I was all about the catchy beats and the angst—not really paying attention to the layers of depth buried in the lyrics. But fast forward to today, and I’ve uncovered a treasure trove of meaning that speaks to the very pulse of my life.
At its core, "Car Radio" is an emotional rollercoaster that mirrors the chaos swirling around in our minds. It’s a distraction-filled world where silence feels more alien than anything else. The line between clarity and confusion gets all kinds of blurred, urging us to sift through the noise, which only amplifies the need to turn inward. In a world drowning in distractions and endless propaganda, that awkward silence isn’t just common—it’s the new norm.
Music, like the poetic punches in "Car Radio," becomes our ally in facing these discomforts. Every lyric pushes us to confront the rattling thoughts that usually linger just out of reach. The contrast of blasting your inner turmoil through a song captures the complexities of personal battles. It’s almost like Tyler Joseph is saying, “It’s cool to sit with your demons. Just crank up the volume!”
As the saying goes, "Silence is a strong weapon." We’ve got to wield it wisely to coax out the clarity we so often crave in the chaos of life. But me? I won’t be silenced. So, meet me back here on Wednesday for another dose of musical magic, where I dive into not just the beats of brilliance but a little bit about getting physical, too!
Cold Feet
Hear ye, hear ye presenting you today; The Unfinished Times, where we dive into new topics each week to have a little chat. If you are coming back, it is amazing to have you, and to those of you who are new, I’m glad that you’re here with us today. Last week, I gave you all fun introduction to who I am, but today we will dive into a topic that excites me to my core. But first, you need to understand my core. Let me unpack with you all my reasonings and purpose for creating this blog.
Picture this, first generation kid living in a new city to pursue design, you’re just having fun away from your parents and siblings, but then the pandemic hits you like a train. At the same time, you are forced to go back home to live in your hometown, you get rehired at your high school job even though you’re doing university level work. You regress to a familiar, yet stagnant environment while at the same time advancing mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
Suddenly, the news that you’ll be having in-person classes again makes you take all your shit back up North to attend an unfamiliar setting of sitting in lecture. The year goes by and before you know it, you’re a senior, the last year of college, only 10 months left, meaning you’re done, finito. You should be celebrating, over the moon, jumping for joy. Yet, the only thing on your mind is, “What the hell am I going to do after?” You’ve always been the type of person who plans, but you didn’t think this far ahead since there are so many options, so many things, so many jobs, just so many possibilities. It is true what they say, time flies before you know it.
By the time I graduated, I just kept saying ‘things take time to arrive, I just have to wait for it’ and now it being November, I am freaking out for not having my life together. Family members, friends, extended family members asking me the dreaded question, “Have you found a job yet?” or “How is the job search going?” And honestly, I just shrug it off hoping they’d leave it alone because, the truth is, I don’t know and that is doubts’ best friend.
For the first time in my life, I don’t have things planned out or a clue of what I want to do with my life. Which ultimately leads to an identity crisis at the ripping age of 22. Why? We live in a society in which the activities or job position you have is used to introduce yourself so that people can get an idea of who you are. The thing is, throughout my life I have used school as a way to identify myself, however since I’ve finished school and have no big girl job prospects. I’ve been left with a degree and no idea how to use it. This has made me feel stuck leaving me to wonder in which direction to go in. Where and how? These questions left all unanswered. I started questioning my own self-identity “Who am I? What do I bring to the world?” From all these big ideas, I grasp on to one thing: I wanted action, to own something, have it made entirely by me, so here I am launching my blog to the world.
Question Everything, Everyone, Every Decision
I question everything in my life, questioning society, events, science, art, hell, -even yourself is an important task to evolve as a person. Back in the day, people used to just stand outside and start thinking out loud, eventually someone would disagree and proceed to have a full-on controversial conversation. This was a job! A philosopher - I need that job. Some famous people would be Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, sadly, many people find them boring or irrelevant. On the contrary, I think they bring beauty to life; maybe I’m crazy or maybe we just need to start thinking more about thinking.
As I navigate through my own journey of self-discovery one famous French philosopher comes in my mind: Descartes. Who funny enough, basically invented the Mind-Body dualism. He is quoted for saying “Cognito ergo sum” in Latin which translates to “I think, therefore I exist” in English. Descartes declared the mind and body to be distinct separate entities that make a human. For example, the body with all its organs takes up space, there is countable volume and mass that can be measured, on the other hand, the mind has no space, it has no volume or mass, but we know that it exists. But how? It tells our body what to do like move your lips when we sing a song or even something natural like breathing. You may be thinking ‘what about the brain?’, in this case it is a part of the body and is what links our mind. The mystery is how this interaction can occur in the first place and if one can exist without the other.
Descartes emphasized the mind is consciousness while the body is a vessel that holds it. Therefore, I can’t help but wonder why identity is solely defined by tangible achievements and societal expectations when there is something behind the curtain. Do I define myself through the activities I engage in, the jobs I undertake, the career I have or the deeper essences that pushes these external factors? My quest for identity has challenged my perspective on who I am which in turn helps me grow and adapt. The mind is a bizarre phenomenon and it’s one I love to talk about, read about, explore, and understand. Although, I have yet to be able to answer these food for thoughts, I am hoping that others out there can help.
Enjoy This Journey With Me
° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °
Enjoy This Journey With Me ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °
This isn’t the end—just a bookmark in the conversation. Stories don’t really close; they unfold, shift, and find new voices. If this one stirred something in you, let it breathe. Leave a thought, challenge an idea, or carry it forward in your own way. And if you ever feel like wandering through more unfinished thoughts, you know where to find me. Let’s keep the conversation alive.~ XOXO
