2025 Q2 Weekly Blog#3
4:44AM-5AM: #16mins
Home-Branford
Aim: 9 minutes
4/18/25
April
1000words
[[Power of Clarity]]
[[Power of Integration]]
[[Power of Stream of Consciousness]]
[[Typical Morning Page]]
[[Exploration of Thoughts]]
[[Site Blog]]
I have a lot of fond memories of architecture, but at the same time, I know how difficult architecture is. And it’s a process, understanding all these different things. And it’s not the end of the world, but I do want to discuss [[A Pattern Language]], by [[Christopher Alexander]]. And it’s a pretty in-depth book, and that’s why I like it. And I’m not sure about Peter Eisenman, but I think I am more pro Christopher Alexander, because he was able to write the book. And maybe Eisenman also has written books, but for the moment, I genuinely think it’s important that I say how important it is that we think things through. And we can only think so long, that’s also super true.
And I also want to take talk about [[Why We Sleep]], by [[Matthew Walker]]. But for now, that’s not super important to me. All I want to do is talking about the issue of sleep, in architecture. And how problematic it is to do all-nighters. But once you do really care about something, we have the rush, to finish everything, and it is a shame, that we think we have to full all-nighters. It’s because we procrastinate, in this day and age. Procrastination is a huge issue, and I think part of the dilemma with all this is, we have way too much information at our disposal. And [[Slow Productivity]], by [[Cal Newport]], he put it well. And we do have to respect that, and work with our body, rather than just dump information, especially when our body and brain cannot accept it.
And all-nighters, which I now despise, and now I know how terrible it is for our body. Especially considering that, our stress level peaks, especially when our sleep is low. We may think we are doing well, but our body really experiences a lot of stress. And I have been wearing the Oura Ring, for the past 6 months. And it’s tough, sometimes, to see so much information about our body, and sleep, but I think it’s important that we become conscious of what is actually happening to our body, because it’s important that we support our body, rather than fight it. And one of the reasons, and it’s a main reason, that I had hesitations for restarting architecture, it’s the dilemma with sleep. Once I really get super into something, I don’t even think sleep is even necessary.
But the truth of the matter is, good sleep allows us to learn things faster. Because our brain doesn’t have the capacity to learn everything, without letting it simmer. And one of the cool things that I am learning, about sleep, is how powerful it is, when we let it simmer. What I mean by this is, we have to try something, for a brief period of time, and if we get overwhelmed, we have to move away from the situation, and come back when we are more relaxed, or even a couple of days later, when our brain has a chance to process what happened. We can think what we want, but at the end of the day, nothing is that important, but in the moment, when things get heated, it seems so important. And that’s pretty intense, without a doubt.
And I’ve had so many of those moments recently. Transitioning between my jobs right now, I have so much more freedom, and my routines are helping me a lot. But if I push away sleep, and I did that earlier this week, I noticed how intense my feelings were becoming. And our reactivity of both the positive and negative emotions go off the chart, especially when we lack sufficient sleep. And we can like something all we want, being overly reactive, both in the positive, and in the negative, it’s not good for us. And that unnecessarily puts a lot of strain and stress on our body, that actually leads to more harm, rather that helping us.
And I really do think about [[Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers]], by [[Robert Sapolsky]], a lot nowadays. Because, at the end of the day, stress is super harmful. And it’s not just about enjoying something either, the fact is, enjoyment happens, when we are relaxed. And relaxation comes when we are able to rest, and then play. And for me, in Architecture, I want to differentiate that, because there is so much freedom, in every project. And that sometimes causes us to loose our footing, if we don’t organize our primary priorities. Because at the end of the day, one person cannot do it all, and we have to delegate things that we cannot do ourselves. And focus on things that we are good at.
And I just want to get a better understanding of this, as I move forward. One of my main problems in life, is I’m not sure how to always delegate tasks. And I unnecessarily think I have to do everything. And that’s an issue that I have been noticing more and more. And delegating is super important, and I want to see what works, and what doesn’t work. And every step is a process, and I pretty much want to reduce stress, by delegating, but also understand the space that we live in. Because the right space, also reduces stress as well. It’s a lot of stuff, but it’s fun to think about. And I’m glad that writing allows me to just think through things. And definitely does help me get in the right mindset.