The Daily Maybe #8: Reading Reality
Real life can be… Cool?
What the hell happened?
I was seven episodes in with The Daily Maybe, building an inkling of consistency, and then… I just stopped?
I don’t know what to tell you, dear Reader. I got lazy and unmotivated and let that stop me. That’s a poor attitude towards the daily blog, and I regret falling prey to it. I do hope you can forgive me.
See, the thing is, I just haven’t been sure what to write about. I thought that was an issue… Then I read this:
Sometimes I don’t have a shred of inspiration in me. I’m tired. I’m overwrought. I’m exhausted. I don’t want to write. But I write anyway. I pull it out of myself anyway. And I will do the same thing tomorrow if I wake up uninspired.
Because I made a commitment to make content every single day and I don’t treat it like a magical gift that makes me special. I treat it like a job and I get my ass up and I do it.
That’s a snippet from Jon Westenberg 🌈’s daily blog from nine days ago. And my LORD did it hit home.
So I thought about things for a second. Sure, I’ve set a precedent for making The Daily Maybe a daily opinion piece on random bits of pop culture, but I’ve also managed to talk about my own life… Why not keep trying that?
Whenever the well of Twitter trends runs dry, or I just don’t feel like talking about whatever’s hot right now, I hesitate to look to my own life for writing inspiration. My day-to-day life just isn’t all that interesting.
But… Does it have to be? From feedback I’ve gotten on the blog, most people seem to enjoy the conversational tone I’ve got going on. That begs the question: do I need to have a fully-formed, conclusive opinion piece every day?
Or can I just have a conversation?
So here I am, dear Reader. Back on my blog, hoping to just talk about my daily goings-on… and maybe get you thinking in the process.
Alright, internet epiphany over.
You may be wondering what today’s title, “Reading Reality,” means. Well, lately, I’ve been doing just that.
See, I’m not the biggest fan of non-fiction. I love stories, and arguably live in a fantasy world of my own half the time. I’m always looking for a good tale; in my experience, however, non-fiction doesn’t often deliver on the great spectacle front.
Now, real life is full of amazing stories in its own right, but very rarely do I ever see such stories told in book form. The best I’ve ever read thus far would easily be The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
I know, I know, that’s a really anecdotal point. But hey, I’m simply recounting my own experience, not arguing anything. I’m sure the lack of interesting non-fiction in my life is primarily due to a lack of looking for such books on my part… But that’s besides the point.
As I said, I’ve been reading reality lately. What that means is I’ve finally found another engaging non-fiction book to read! The book is called Three Cups of Tea, written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin about the former’s life-changing experiences in Korphe, Northern Pakistan.
Now, as any avid Reader of The Daily Maybe will know, I myself am Pakistani. Lesser known fact, I’m a fiend for good chai. Naturally, then, both the title and setting of this book were somewhat alluring to me.
Long story short, the book’s narrative recounts Greg Mortenson’s experiences meeting, befriending, and helping out the people of Korphe, a mountain village in North Pakistan. Starting from provision of basic medical supplies, and ending up with the building of a school for the kids of Korphe, Mortenson did quite the number for the village. It’s a sweet, heartfelt tale.
With Mortenson being a Tanzanian-born American who’s really into climbing mountains the world over, there’s a good amount of travel in the book. While the tale of Korphe’s school takes center stage, the travel’s what really got me thinking.
I loved reading of Mortenson’s travels around the world. From Tanzanian plains to Pakistani peaks to American storage units, every tidbit of a journey had me hooked. Not because they were particularly well written (which they were); I just love travel.
All this reading of Mortenson’s travels has just happened to coincide with my friend Crystal’s latest trip to Singapore. Being a proud Singaporean herself, she takes great pride in documenting the city and its beauty, primarily on her Snapchat. It’s always a great watch whenever she visits her home.
Since I was reading all about Mortenson’s destinations, I suddenly felt the urge to do the same about Crystal’s. Random fun fact I found about Singapore during my initial round of Googling: Sumatran prince Sang Nila Utama named the island “Singapura,” Sanskrit for “Lion City,” after seeing a lion on the island. The kicker?
There were never any lions in Singapore.
Now, I’m not about to jump into a big history lesson on random Singapore trivia. The point is, the nation state has an incredibly interesting history. Reading about some of it made me realise how much in the world I want to go see, and learn about.
I want to read about the history of and witness the modern-day image of Japan. I want to connect with my ancestral homeland of Pakistan (pree the title image), and learn to read written Urdu. I want to ride in a gondola along the canals of Venice, while also reading about the House of Borgia, seeing just how historically accurate Assassin’s Creed II really was.
I want to read reality.
So, those are my ramblings for today. I want to travel the world, as most probably do, and I want to learn more of the history behind all these amazing places.
Do tell, dear Reader; where in the world do you want to go? What places do you want to know more about? Which realities do you wish to read?
Maybe we can talk about them one day.
And that’s that.
Till next we meet,
Sarim
