Chapter 12

[EN]

"Character isn't formed out of smart people, it is formed out of people who have overcome invisible monsters" -MC 2024

◼️Pain and suffering should be embraced, not avoided.

[In order to steer clear of misinterpretations linked to my words this time, I shall better explain what I mean by that statement and re-direct you to Chapter 0 for any disclaimers].

In the artistic world one can only move the audience with its emotional delivery once he/she/it has gone through enough struggle in life. It is felt in music, in a dance sequence, in a performance, in a photograph, on the catwalk, in art in general.

What sets it apart from the rest is its sincerity.

‘Knowing yourself is based in the past. "Learning yourself" is based in the present’. Our past doesn't define us, it is a lesson, not a life sentence. However, I believe it moulds us and always influences who we become. I know a lot of you who would like to erase your history as it makes you embarrassed or reminds you of a painful moment in life, but I am here to show you a different perspective, as one shouldn't want to forget about the painful parts of the past if their goal is self-development.

I understand why it may feel enticing as a preferable option, though.

Life isn't a 'sea of roses' and some situations truly are burdensome to process. Some take days, some take months, and others take years. Rightfully so, I see nothing wrong with that - as the difference lies in how we choose to use our past experiences in the present, since it is undeniable that it has a massive impact on the person we become and the values we hold dear.

'Each day can't be a happy one'

In my opinion, the strongest hearts are actually the ones who have the most scars and who have surpassed their own initially-drawn limits beyond ever thought. The kindest and most generous people I've met have had to endure the worst and I genuinely do not think that is a coincidence. At the end of the day, the heart is a muscle and so is the brain.

On that note: How many of you, gym-goers, have heard of the term 'hypertrophy'? Have you ever considered that there may also exist hypertrophy methods to train the brain? The thought alone is fascinating, isn't it?

Well... it does.

If you stop going to the gym for a month, you will start to feel a noticeable difficulty in continuing your progress where you left off. You will lose some of your strength and your stamina will decrease. As mentioned above - and in order to get stronger - the brain needs to be ripped and healed systematically.

The body cannot live without the mind. If there is a craze about the gym, why isn't there a craze about the cognitive stimulation? 'Mastering words is like verbal Jiu jitsu', and as with any sport, you'll only get better with consistency and practice. 'Ideas are easy, execution is hard, consistency is harder'.

People who rely on social media & technology too much are losing that ability by the second, fostering lethargy, procrastination and an awry self-diagnosis. It is worrisome how some reach a threshold where they can't even realise that fact on their own anymore, which brings society to a social and intellectual regression.

Unless you are going to be married to and/or build a life with your phone alone (there are indeed people with all sorts of fetiches around us), I suggest you start thinking twice regarding the aftermath and the takeover of your blue screen usage daily.

'None of it is perfect, but all of it is beautiful'

I am positive that things don't have to be within the social beauty standards or "Instagram-able" to have value. Value creation in marketing terms is defined as "Pain vs Gain" –> which applies to life itself. A street can be beautiful simply due to its sense of liveliness being kept untouched or due to its heritage being maintained in the overall design and architecture, for example. Appreciating the beauty of time and its cracks, when the easy way would be to modernise it or to put a filter over it... now that's something.

'You do not truly know someone, until you fight them' and occasionally that someone must be your own self in order to promote self-discovery. Strength is not measured in how much we avoid our feelings, it is the exact opposite! The acceptance that not every day is a walk on a flowery path, containing sacrifices and challenges which reveal over time what we are truly meant to pursue.

One thing I’ve learned early on in my life is that managing emotions is not a synonym of pushing them away and pretending they never happened. Instead, it is working through them with care by searching for solutions after the cause has been identified. However, bear in mind that you can't solve the problems in your life with the same information that caused the problems in the first place. New information is required and the kind that is needed is not found on the Internet.

Emotions are a natural bodily response to something, hence if they are not dealt with in a timely manner, they pile up and eventually become an irrational reaction to something, taking a toll on your everyday life. “When emotions are high, logic is low” and it is in those moments that people say atrocious things they don’t mean.

If you went through a tough situation and you haven’t had time to grieve properly, you should. If you haven’t cried, got upset, got frustrated… you should. A lack of time is purely an excuse of the self to not deal with the uncomfortable feelings inside.

If you believe that not crying is supposed to be a sign of strength and self-emotional regulation, you are fooling yourself. People who break up with their boyfriends/girlfriends for whichever reason and are proud to say they didn’t cry/grieve over the fact that it was over, are the prime example of unresolved childhood and self-awareness issues. With that, I don't intend to say that everyone must cry or feel sad in such situations, however, a relationship between two people involves feelings and vulnerability, and it is not by chance that when someone breaks your heart the pain is physical more so than mental.

'Successful people see opportunity in every failure; others see failure in every opportunity'

How my eyes see it 👀 those who complain the most are the ones who haven't suffered "enough". The ones who have, will appreciate even the smallest fractions of a split second with more reasons to be grateful vs spending energy complaining that things didn't go their way. What happened to them is relevant, but most importantly, it is how they chose to react to what happened to them that has an effect on one’s character.

'Rough seas make good sailors'... right?

To tell you a personal story of mine, I have had my share of disappointments and heartbreak just as any of you reading this probably had as well. In my case, nothing has ever been more painful to hear than being told I would have to choose between my health and my passion. That has been the moment I've felt the most without a ground to step on thus far, as simultaneously, part of my world and everything I knew was collapsing and part of it was re-building in a new and unforeseen way. Nevertheless, that moment also inspired a wave of creativity and critical thinking. Thousands of questions ran in my mind as to why those two worlds couldn't co-exist…

…and I still believe they can under the right circumstances.

On the 9th of August of 2021, after failing countless times battling my own invisible monsters, I found the following words by accident: "…out of respect for each person's individuality, I must take a step back and let it happen as much as it pains me to stand by and watch. In order for her to do it in a conscious way without our opinions interfering, there's nothing left for me to do but to respect it."

I am unaware if you are able to grasp the depth of grief those words carry dear readers, however, I must adamantly say that 'strong parents raise strong children'.

After I shattered that person's trust to a certain extent - that person being myself - I decided to confront my loved ones and inform them that for the next few months (or years) I was going to possibly make the wrong choices (responsibly), but it would be the only way for me to learn certain things first-hand... and that's how I became the subject of my own social experiment.

It may sound non-sensical at first, but the only way to go up the wave in a turbulent sea is by going down first until you’ve gained the momentum to ride it 🌊

If you've been following "MC's PointOfView" from the beginning, I reckon that by now you must've created some sort of a vague persona that defines who I am in your mind. From the personal messages you send me - which I am always very appreciative towards - I infer and believe that you have communally had an inkling towards wanting to better your understanding of the world around us, starting with the deficient communication that is being enhanced by the appeal of the virtual world. Try not to forget that "too much virtuality and fantasy bring people to grow an unprecedented dissatisfaction towards the real world", and that is the main cause for the epidemic of loneliness and isolation we are currently dealing with.

We may not give ourselves enough credit for the situations we must go through in life, as it is most definitely not gentle. I could tell you a fairy tale version straight out of a Disney movie regarding how wonderful it is, but even Disney movies have sad underlying backstories if you pay enough attention to its writing.

'Loyal, Brave and True' is this year's Holiday spirit motto. A reminder that 'courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid'; courage means you don't let fear stop you from getting from point A to point C.

I encourage you not to be discouraged if things don't work out how you initially planned. Not everything will happen the way you would like it to, but you shouldn't let that be the reason you give up on what you want to achieve for yourself, as it is always the darkest before dawn. Let's make good use of 2025 together~

Happy Holidays to all! Until next year (:

From: MC◻️