Learning to Draw People Challenge – Second Pause Discussion

This was written March 28, 2024 as part of the 2024 Learning to Draw People Challenge

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome back,
As stated in Learning to Draw People Challenge – Day 23 (2024/03/16) – Dawn of a new Break, I had to take a break from my Challenge once again due to some issue I’ve been facing. I decided I would talk a bit about these issues, along with what I’m planning to do in the interim.

Stress and Issues

Let’s first talk about the various contributors to this pause. First of all, the primary reason for coming to Taiwan was to learn Chinese, and this should remain a priority. Obviously, my Chinese classes require both time and mental effort. On top of that, I try to read in Chinese every day, which can take a few hours (for barely any pages), and leaves me mentally drained. This thus limits the amount of effort I’m able to expend on other endeavors.

Speaking of time, I do spend a lot of time on transit, taking the metro and bus from where I live to school and back, along with some significant delays while waiting for the bus. This is a non-negligible chunk of my day that can’t be disregarded, during which I tend to be idle and not really “productive”.

Beyond that, I’ve also been stressed. Not only do I have exams every week, but it’s also been tax seasons, and my current situation complicates matters. I also have to figure out what I’ll to do this summer, and the uncertainty is eating at me, along with worries of issues with the timeline and my visa.

Next, through a combination of different elements (including insomnia, stress, and the amount of things I was trying to handle at once), I was becoming sleep deprived, which negatively impacted my ability to focus, and in turn both my motivation and ability to perform involved tasks. This means that forcing myself to stay up later for the challenge gradually made my situation worse, and I therefore need to find a solution on this front.

Another big issue is how much idle time I waste on the internet, especially during the evening or weekend. A big example of this is Youtube browsing, continually and mindlessly watching videos, yet not getting any value from it. Shorts in particular are rather egregious and problematic. I start watching some videos, but have such a hard time stopping, even if I know I ought to.

I also shouldn’t understate the fact I’ve been trying to spend some time with new friends I’ve made in Taiwan, along with just exploring some areas, or trying to get new experiences here. I’m visiting a completely different part of the world, I might as well try to make the most of it. Moreover, I think such activities ought to be good for my mental health, which is primordial for achieving any of my goals.

Finally, the time I spend on my articles can undoubtedly be overwhelming. I first need to spend time on the action itself (in this case drawing). I then go meta and analyze what I did while writing about it. But it doesn’t end there, since I also review my article afterwards, which also requires a significant chunk of time. (And funnily enough, in classic Shawn fashion, I’m sometimes tempted to go another layer of meta deep and write an article about my review process, the kind of changes I make and what I’ve learned on that front). All of that usually results in a few hours spent each day on this project, which can get into conflict with the other previously mentioned elements.

Priorities

So, a lot of these points definitely highlight that I need to organize some of my priorities. Some priorities that should rank higher than this blog and the drawing challenge include:

• Learning Chinese
• My Health (Which is why I started swimming)
• My Mental Health
• My Sleep
• Enjoying my time in Taiwan

This is just a quick blurting out of my thoughts, and I should personally do a deep dive, but it’s still a useful thing to quickly consider, and try to balance. I also think it’s important to note that (and forgive me, this will be a little abstract):
Even if element A is more important than element B, it doesn’t mean I should completely neglect B for the sake of A. For example, if I decided socializing was more important than something else, it doesn’t mean I should just spend 100% of my time socializing, but instead that I should prioritize finding some time to socialize. We could consider each of those priorities having a “quota” of sort.

Next steps

Based on all of this, what are my thoughts for moving forward? Well, I think there are two big things I want to work on, which I’ll likely turn into their own project on here:

• Trying different techniques to improve my sleep, along with evaluating them and recording my subjective experience.
• Work on a method to change how I use Youtube to make it healthier for me. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and think I’ll try to work on a browser extension. Stay tuned for more details.

I think these two things should help me a lot with tackling large projects such as my Challenges, by both limiting how much time I waste, and allowing me to feel more refreshed, motivated and focused. (And yes, the Youtube issue is also impacting my sleep). But that’s not where things end. I’ll also need to keep working on my physical health, which for now means going swimming weekly (hopefully eventually twice a week).

Finally, because I know that my stress is a big issue, I also will want to find ways to properly relax. One potential solution might be to look into meditation. And let’s not forget my mental health, which is also something I need to keep in check.

Conclusion

Thank you all for your patience and understanding. I’ll keep you updated on my progress and let you know what I learn from all of this. More updates to come in the future, so stay tuned!
Have a nice one, and take care of yourselves!

This post is followed by Learning to Draw People Challenge – Take Three