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2022 was an incredibly eventful year in my life.
- It started with the peak of my application process to universities in the United States, followed by graduating from GKA after 12 years, interning at Helpfeel Inc, entering the University of Tokyo, joining the Baji Seminar, studying abroad in the US, and enrolling in Columbia University, among other things.
- I consider it a perfect score just to have survived without breaking down mentally.
- I am truly grateful to the many people who supported me and provided me with opportunities. I appreciate all the help I received, and I look forward to continuing to receive it.
- I hope to be able to pay it forward at least a little, such as through activities like Atelier Basi.
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Reflection: Way of Life
- During the 12 years of elementary, middle, and high school, I had a stable environment (school, family home, etc.) as a foundation, and I did whatever I wanted on top of that.
- However, this year, the foundation itself underwent significant changes.
- As a result, it was a year of actively considering how to live.
- During the gap term, I had complete freedom to do whatever I wanted.
- After studying abroad, I didn’t have as much freedom as during the gap term, but I needed to adapt to a completely new environment and build a foundation for my future life.
- Related: 2022 Fall Study Abroad Diary
- I have been facing various emotions such as expectations, anxieties, and regrets throughout the year as I actively live, and I feel like I have gained some understanding of how to live my life.
- Thoughts I had:
- There is nothing in life that “must be done.”
- There is no need to earn money or always produce results.
- Furthermore, it is not necessary to always spend life happily or always have fun.
- Related: Ethics, Is it Happy to Abandon Progressivism in Life?, I Tried Receiving Welfare Because I Don’t Want to Work. My Daily Life Became Rich., Knowing What is Enough
- Therefore, if I feel the desire to take a step in a certain direction while affirming the current situation, I have come to think that it is good to gradually move in that direction.
- Life is long, and doing nothing leads nowhere.
- Related: Is it happiness to affirm the current situation and aim for gradual progress?, The Difference Between “Aiming for a Point” and “Moving in a Direction” - Yasukazu Nishio’s Scrapbox, No Need to Rush, Moderate Ambition and Resignation
- However, I don’t always have this mindset, and I often get caught up in the goals right in front of me and become overwhelmed.
- Well, that’s life.
- There is nothing in life that “must be done.”
- On another note, having the Insomnia Cookies daily cookie subscription brings joy to my life every day, which is excellent for my mental well-being (maybe?).
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Reflection: Relationships
- Similar to the previous section, for the 12 years of elementary, middle, and high school, I had the same environment in terms of relationships.
- Of course, it wasn’t without its challenges, but there were no significant changes in general.
- In the midst of significant changes in my environment, this year also involved a lot of reflection on relationships with others.
- Gap term/University of Tokyo
- I met many new people.
- Helpfeel Inc., Shimokita College, Baji Seminar, Deep Tech classes, UT-Virtual, SGG, etc.
- It was a lot of fun.
- I feel like I spent more time with people than in high school.
- I think it was good to experience the new joy of interacting with others.
- Related: Building Human Relationships is Random, so Increase the Number of Attempts
- I met many new people.
- After studying abroad
- Honestly, there were many challenges at first.
- It was something I anticipated.
- Unlike in Japan, I had to build new relationships from scratch without any existing connections.
- However, being in that situation allowed me to reconsider the meaning of interacting with others.- It’s not necessary to make 10,000 friends, but I feel relieved since I started to find enjoyment in the current situation and gradually improve without overdoing it, just like in the previous section about life. In fact, I feel like I’ve been able to gradually improve in how I interact with people. Currently, I have good friends with whom I study together and I find enjoyment in that. It’s endless if I start thinking about what I don’t have, but if I can find happiness in what I do have, then that’s a good thing. Related: 2022 Fall Study Abroad Diary. Also, it’s important to note that I haven’t lost connections with friends in Japan. Of course, it’s not sustainable to rely solely on those connections while living in the US. However, I want to maintain a positive mindset of enjoying having friends in both countries. It was also a good thing to realize that again when I returned home at the end of the year. Grateful once again.
- Honestly, there were many challenges at first.
- Similar to the previous section, for the 12 years of elementary, middle, and high school, I had the same environment in terms of relationships.
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2023:
- Write about the direction I want to go in.
- In the US, I have been able to create a foundation for a mentally stable and happy life. In the coming year, I want to find even more interesting things. So far, I feel like there are more interesting things in Tokyo than in NYC, and more interesting people at the University of Tokyo than at Columbia. However, that mostly depends on my ability to find interesting things and people. I want to actively seek out interesting things both inside and outside of the university. Whether it’s local communities in NYC or niche study groups at Columbia, I want to find those things and dive into them. It’s something I can do now that my life is becoming more stable. I also feel that it’s important to assert my own interestingness in order to meet interesting people. So, I also want to share my projects and ideas with others. I plan to publish an article summarizing what I’m aiming for and what I’m working on in the near future. Related: Living in a Way that Clears the Fog of the World, Plan to Expand Relationships in Spring 2023. Metaphorically and practically, I want to clear The Mist of the World.
- Development, research, and creation:
- I want to bring the Wikipedia tag game that I’m developing with @axokxi to release. It’s fun to create interesting things. Related: Wikichase.
- I also want to continue thinking about and implementing virtual/relative time perception. Related: Exploration of Virtual Time. I want to summarize what I’m currently thinking about based on the SGG Year-End LT Meeting 2022 Slides and write an article in the near future. I want to discuss this topic using proper references to Phenomenology. Since the philosophy professor I’m taking a course with in the spring semester specializes in phenomenology, I want to ask them various questions. As a concrete implementation, I also want to continue developing a prototype for Proposal for Non-Turn-Based Communication with Voice. I want to become someone who not only thinks and writes about ideas but also implements and experiments with them.
- I also want to explore the concept of the External Brain. I recently switched from Scrapbox to Obsidian and it seems like I can experiment with various things. I also want to discuss the mechanism of connecting external brain tools in the lineage of Semantic Desktop with u7693 and others. Related: 各種外部脳サービスを繋げるプロトコル&インターフェース - 井戸端.
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I wrote a lot, but I’m truly grateful to the people who spent time with me in 2022.- As we move forward in life in 2023, let’s continue to find joy and happiness.
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Thank you in advance for your support this year.
2022/01/02 Shutaro Aoyama / @blu3mo
