Kedar Sudhalkar
American Literature Honors, Block 3
Fujii
April 12, 2014
Personal
Philosophy
The only way to truly have fun in life is to relax. Most
people bustle through their day without relaxing, hurrying from one task to
another. Others are so driven by work it is all they can think about as it
consumes every waking moment of their day. It is important to relax, kick back,
and do what you want to that is not related to anything productive. The key to
this strategy in life is not simply relaxing, but getting rid of stress. Once you
reach the level of understanding in which you realize that if something bad or
not positive is happening to you or around you and you cannot change it, there
is no point in worrying about it. Reaching that level of understanding about
life and your surroundings is key to having a happy life. But there are limits
and restraints that must be followed. When most people hear this philosophy of
mine, they assume I take it to the next level and care about absolutely nothing
and do not care about anything, which is simply not true. The balance is to
have the drive to do what needs to be done while at the same time understanding
your own limits as a human being and not pushing yourself to the breaking
point.
Up until midway through sophomore year, I was not like
this at all. In fact, I was the complete opposite, doing every homework
assignment when I got it, even if it was due a week later, stressing over
assignments and grades way more than I needed. It made me a lot less happy as a
person than I should have been, although it did not seem that way. However, I realized
in the first semester that it was not a good thing to be that way. I let a
little loose, followed the example of some of my friends. Some of them were bad
examples to follow, but the idea they had was a great philosophy if it was dialed
back to a manageable level. As it turns out, I dialed back to much, but
corrected it as best I could. Understanding the principal of no stress is
difficult for most people. Stress comes from things like worrying about school
and work. Understanding that the big test you took will not be graded faster
just because you hope it gets graded by tomorrow is a massive relief. If you
cannot do something about a situation, you should not worry about it. Another thing
is thinking about cost effectiveness of attempting something. Most people go
all out on projects and spend huge amounts of time and effort, stressing out as
they do so, when in all honesty it is not needed. Examples of this are evident
everyday in school. When I hear a friend was up for hours late at night to
write a simple rough draft of the intro for their Grapes of Wrath essay, I just
think to myself; why? There is a difference between effort and too much
working. Another example is APUSH notes, when people take over ten pages of
notes, and I usually take none to about two pages of notes, and get the same or
better grades in APUSH. I understand that some people learn differently, but
the amount of sleep that people can sacrifice for such little rewards is truly
astonishing.
Although I am considered too laid back by most of my
friends, the attitude and approach works for me. I do as well as I want to in
any project or class, and what I get I am happy with. Only so much effort can
be put into certain parts of life, otherwise they become too stressful and drain
your time and energy, for little reward.
