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One thing that has made me a much more well-adjusted person is a clip I once saw of Hank Green saying that anyone can be in amazing shape as long as being in amazing shape is one of their top three priorities.

(This is obviously a generalization that isn't true for everyone. But it is true for most people and I'm proceeding from there.)

This "top three priorities" framing has genuinely reduced my tendency toward jealousy and self-comparison a lot. Now when I feel envious of someone’s spotless, aesthetic home, I think to myself, “Having a spotless, aesthetic home is probably one of their top three priorities. It’s definitely not one of mine, so I shouldn’t expect my home to look like that.”

Or when I see an influencer with a body that takes a ton of work to maintain: “Maintaining that body is obviously one of her top three priorities, because it’s her livelihood. My livelihood is my brain, so I’m never going to prioritize my body like that.”

It also helps me to identify areas that I actually DO want to prioritize more. I realized in recent years that my envy for my friends who prioritized writing more than I did was NOT going away, so I started to prioritize writing more. (Not top three, but higher priority than it has been in the past.)

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19/100 days of productivity

song of the day: cry for me- the weeknd

studied until 3 am for chemistry. did some practice midterms and rewatched all my lectures.

I yearn for so much.

this is me by the way

Finished the Viktor piece in time for his birthday!

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song of the day: metamodernity- vansire

very chilly day today. my life flashed before my eyes too many times to count. why is my campus on an icy hill.

research: finished citations for my article and submitted it for editing. started the outline for my next article. bugged my team about finding our introduction for our paper (it has been over a month). sent out a few emails to profs.

academics: finished some online lab training courses for my upcoming synthetic biology lab workshops. am very excited!

selfcare: learned a little bit about game design. i know next to nothing about coding but i have to learn it eventually. ordered myself a very nice and comforting hot meal.

tomorrow's goal: i need to start doing reading assignments before i fall behind. i'll try to finish my pre labs before labs start next week.

notes: i didn't post for the past few days as i was quite stressed about my program. i was debating transferring to engineering, even transferring to another school. but i've figured it out so it's all good now.

hi!! any youtube chemistry channels recommendations?

Hello, I definitely do have some!

Something more theoretical:

Three Twentysix: positively one of my favorite yt channels ever, so many interesting concepts explained simply but also in depth at the same time. Highly recommended!

Periodic videos: they have a video for each of the elements but they also talk about all sorts of different chemistry things + The Professor is really funny (and rn is the perfect time to watch their video on the emerald Christmas tree :))

Chemistorian for some history of chemistry as the name suggests

Not a channel but The Royal Institution's playlist on chemistry

More in-lab action and syntheses:

NileRed (obviously. How could I possibly not include him)

ChemicalForce for the more explosive and dangerous (and cool!!) side of chemistry

Explosions&Fire who is absolutely hilarious and whose content I'd recommend even to non-chemists

Chemiolis if you're into organic synthesis

Apoptosis where you can get both organic and inorganic

Simons Nuclearchemistry: what it says on the tin

Honorable mention:

Reactions which I'd say is the most pop-science-y on this list but I think it can be fun especially if you're new to chemistry :)

seeking, yearning, reaching hands

oil on canvas. started and finished in one day. a little rushed but it made my father (it was a gift for him) happy so it’s worth it. sorry about the glare: it is not dry enough for the matte finish.