As a footballer, I gotta go with Lionel Messi. For me he was the GOAT even before winning the World Cup but winning it cemented it for sure!

Lol I was just about to mention Harry Kane, but you beat me to it! An absolutely amazing finisher of the modern game and great football IQ.

This is the way. Congrats!

Dang that's really impressive!

I got back into regular journaling in the second half of last year. Before that I used to be on and off with it and it never developed into a solid habit. However, now I write personally and publically (on SN) pretty much every day, and it has become more of a routine for me to write.

I think what has helped me stay consistent with journaling and writing at large, is to establish a clear reason in why I want to make it a habit. Before I would just write in a journal just because, or because I heard that it could be beneficial but I didn't know exactly why. The reason I started journaling this time around was because I had this itch that I wanted to leave behind some sort of legacy. Through my journals of life in which I write down anything from the most mundane to some more in depth reflection and analysis of life, I aim to pass down my acquired knowledge and experiences to whomever wants to entertain themselves with my writing and record of living. It could end up that I just read them on my own death bed and have a nice chuckle before I die, or it could end up in the hands of my great great grandchild or whoever and help to inspire them or teach them something, I don't know.

In addition, I've noticed both on a subjective and quantifiable level (through my wearable device, the Whoop), that journaling and writing down my thoughts immediately and substantially lowers my overall stress level. On the app for my wearable, it shows a real time chart of where my current stress is at, and after journaling for 5 minutes or so my stress level drops like how the chart of a crypto coin does right after a massive dump.

And by consistently writing on my personal journal for close to 6 months now, it has rekindled my love for writing and has given me the confidence to write publically on SN.

Therefore, journaling can be a simple way to achieve a little bit more fulfillment in life and at least for me it seems to be a great reliever of stress.

ありがとう先生、一緒にがんばろう！

Yes, writing has helped me learn better as well!

Indeed it is and that is the beauty of it! Unfortunately, so many of us stop seriously learning after we graduate from school....

Obsidian has been a great tool for me to learn and practice markdown.

Application is paramount for sure! I could read up and learn about something on optimizing health or sports performance, but if I never apply it to my own life what was the point of learning about it?

Monetization via sharing what I have learned and experienced has been a new experience, but it does add motivation to my learning process, as I now want to make sure I'm learning at a deeper level and applying everything I learned and taking meaningful experiences from what I learned in order to best share my newfound knowledge and to add value to the world in some way.

ありがとう、先生！

The unschooled approach I like better as well, there is more freedom to it, but sometimes I struggle to make sure I stay disciplined (contrary to your SN name lol) on the topic of interest and jump around instead of focusing on the initial topic. Which isn't a terrible thing, but for me it can lead to being learned only on the surface level of a topic instead of comprehending the depth.

Reading is key for sure! Do you highlight or take notes when you read?

Ahh yes! Another I must read!

Yea definitely going to read next!

I have read her other short novel titled Anthem which was solid!

Ahh yes! I remember vividly especially inside! I also remember taking a nap at the hostel I was staying at, and then waking up to my two friends completely drunk after they had finished a bottle of Captain Morgan between the two of them in less than an hour. Long story short, one of them ended up throwing up the all you can eat paella we had and the other tried to help me get the extremely wasted one onto his bed, but we ended up failing because he was also too drunk to help me, so we let him 'sleep' on the floor. And this was all on our first day there haha...

You make a very good point!

Awesome thank you so much!

Been meaning to get back into Nostr as well as introduce it to a couple of my friends so thank you!

Barcelona?

On that note though, I think there's a difference especially in the modern world between doing nothing in what you are referring to as being 'productive' or valuable, and doing nothing in that you are literally wasting your time by say spending time on scrolling endlessly through social media. Both could be labeled as doing nothing, where one is mindful and valuable 'nothing' in the sense that one may enter a state of daydreaming or meditation or even rest and recovery. Whereas the other you really didn't get anything productive out of it, you just wasted time and distracted yourself from facing life as it should be experienced, which like you brought up should have moments of actually doing nothing, sitting there with your thoughts or just 'stand and stare'.

This is true as well! It's all about finding your own balance!

Very interesting! From a more Western perspective I'm assuming the holding of static postures is a similar practice to isometrics. Lately, I've been implementing more isometrics into my training routine for strength, but also to keep my tendons in shape. The Horse Stance is another form of static posture that has it's roots from the East I believe.

Can't wait to read more of your posts!