Gradient (Gradual) Descent
I’ve recently begun keeping track of quotes, sayings, and other miscellaneous ideas that makes me press pause, and reflect.
One interesting Quora response on “harsh life lessons people should learn in their 20s”, made me realize how difficult it is, sometimes, to see the long-term impact of our actions.
In particular, what I’ve learned over the past few years is that the future is impossibly difficult to predict, and sticking to long-term plans can take significant effort and discipline and end results don’t always end up as we want. And thus, it can be totally fine to just go with the flow and enjoy the ride while we can – however this isn’t always the case. In other instances, there are cases where we want to achieve specific goals, and the path may be more cut and dry, (e.g. a PhD/medical degree, a scholarship award, …)
Regardless, I’ve selected a few memorable exerpts that had an impact on me that I’d like to share :)
- “The only real important dates in school are your exams, which are maybe 5% of your time spent there. You spend 95% of your time preparing for that other 5%
- Change in life is ridiculously slow and gradual, often almost unnoticeable until you hit a snag.
- Be fully aware of the type of person you are slipping into, for better or for worse.
- Falling in love takes time and is gradual. Working towards your dream job takes time and is gradual. Parents dying is gradual, cancer can take years to fully kill some people. Friends drifting apart is gradual. Starting a successful business is gradual. Becoming an alcoholic is gradual. Abusive relationships start slowly and get worse over time.
We do not lose our souls in a single day, we lose it little by little.