Wrapping up 2017 With My Thoughts
It’s the day before 2018 arrives and I’ve been so swamped with preparing the videos for the 30-day Yoga Challenge that I realized that I didn’t write anything to reflect on the year! I like to do these yearly reflections… but I didn’t do it last year… so I really must do it now. Otherwise, that’s how traditions die.
“That’s how traditions die”
I recently gained the ability to walk on top of the tall bars on the beach.
And one week, my friend Max and I tried to do a vinyasa yoga flow together while on top of those bars during sunset.
And the next time I saw him, he asked me if I wanna go up there and I said no not today… and he replied with “That’s how traditions die.” Funny enough, he was right. We haven’t done it since. Traditions only continue if you pass it on.
This is why I like to constantly share things others have taught me to others. There’s no point in hoarding knowledge or wisdom… All I can do is give-back to the people who taught me by passing it on and hope they do the same. If you lift others up, you lift yourself up. Be the change you want to see in the world is very true. We ARE all one. If you hurt others… you hurt yourself. Anyway, where was I going with this? I’m not sure. Let’s move onto the next point…
Vlog-style “Car Talks”
After a yoga class, I sat in my car and made a “vlog” for the first time… opening up and sharing my vulnerabilities by talking about my self-worth, perfectionism, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, the dunning kruger effect, and more… I received a lot of engagement with my YouTube fam from this video and it was a sign to me to make more.
So after that one, I made another one in my car talking about 3 ways to use your time wisely. That too, was a hit. I will make more of these car-talk videos for sure. They are not difficult for me to make, the people apparently like it and it will allow me to make more videos regularly in between movement/exercise-related videos.
The YouTube fam is growing
I surpassed 70k YouTube subscribers which was pretty cool. I think this unconsciously caused me to get more serious. I have a power to affect people even more now. So I’ll be doing my best to help the world in anyway I can. We are all doing our part with evolution.
However, I must admit that every so often I scare myself that I’m putting myself “out” there. Half the time I wonder if what I’m doing is good enough… valuable to others… if I sound bad… or all these negative thoughts… which reminds me of the following…
The creative process goes something like this…
I go through this process every single time with any big project. In the beginning I’m super inspired and think I came out with the best idea ever and I have this surge of creative energy. Then I start putting the idea into fruition and find it’s going to be a bit convoluted and daunting. And in the middle of it, it’s absolute shit. Garbage. Trash. So bad I can’t even show a draft to anyone yet. And I start refining it but it’s still so bad, to the point where I start doubting myself and start thinking that I suck. This is the worst part. The “I am shit” part. If you get through that part, you will achieve big things in life. Because once you start seeing that this might actually be okay… is when you start to see the LIGHT and all the loose-ends disappear.
SO DON’T GIVE UP! This is why I love to do drafts of everything. Drafts for my video editing. Drafts of blog posts. I work on it a little bit each time. When I get overwhelmed I take a break for a few minutes or hours and get back to it with renewed energy.
Life and Death of People & Things
My grandma passed away a year ago exactly and when my mom was sorting through their stuff, it hit me how both my grandparents had kept things immaculate because they knew the value in things. How I remember my grandpa was that no matter how stressed life was, there was always time to do things neatly, orderly, gently and smoothly. Whether it had to do with the organization of important papers or the smoothness of the gas pedal to tread the car with respect or getting the key out his wallet to open the door without a rush, this was a nice thing. Also, many of their clothes were decades old but high quality and taken care of so well that you’d think they were still new.
The disposable life
That really gave me insight to the very opposite life people live nowadays: that very disposable life where obsolescence is planned by many manufacturers (“planned obsolescence”) that sets a different tone. And not just a disposable life for THINGS but RELATIONSHIPS. I don’t mean significant others… I mean any relationships. People have thousands of “online” friends but are afraid of having powerful, intimate friendships these days. I don’t care how many facebook friends you have… having a few solid friends who you can talk to and they can help lift you up makes you wealthier than anything else.
And when it comes to special relationships, the current youngest generation prefers to have sex with no intimacy whatsoever. Like can you imagine having sex with someone but never having held hands with them during a casual stroll? I can’t. I like passion. I like to be fully enveloped in the process. To dive deep. But that’s kind of where we are at with the younger generation. They want fun and zero commitment. That might be all fun and games and there’s a good time for that phase of your life but if you found a truly special someone, you can’t let that opportunity pass you by. Don’t be afraid of growing, learning, hurting. Everything ends up being a blessing in disguise in the end. That’s how I see it. That’s the only way to see it otherwise you will go into an abyss of despair. You are the result of millions of years of evolution. You are a survivor. Fucking act like it. Be strong and confident in life. Don’t be afraid of the things that hurt. Life starts outside your comfort zone.
I learned to Kitesurf/Kiteboard!
I went to Panama in April and spent a week at this heavenly spot and kite surfed almost daily. That was pretty epic. I documented the adventure here in these few short instagram videos which I greatly enjoyed creating:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTZaxsgglfK/?hl=en&taken-by=antranikdotorg
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTmXViKALMj/?hl=en&taken-by=antranikdotorg
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTr93xwguoL/?hl=en&taken-by=antranikdotorg
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT60DyTgmWX/?hl=en&taken-by=antranikdotorg
Le Bitcoin
It’s been almost a year that I’ve been into cryptocurrencies and I’ve learned so much. I remember very clearly the first week when I wanted to get serious about it, I sat down and binge-read for 8 hours a day for 3 days straight all so that I could just learn the most basic of the basic shit. I went on these binge reading tirades which I absolutely adore cause it satisfies the nerd in me to absorb all this data like a sponge. It’s not everyday you find rabbit holes that suck you in so good.
Those days became weeks… and then months… and what I thought I knew in the first couple months were completely and utterly wrong. Rule #1: Don’t believe anyone or anything you read about cryptocurrencies. Do your own research. But the problem is, you don’t have the capability of even doing the proper research when you first start out. Hell, you might be in the space for a solid year and still think you know what’s real, but still be getting swindled.
It is my firm belief that 95% of the coins out there are scams in the sense that they will never truly amount to ever being truly used and adopted beyond price speculation. The devs make them because they want to make money. Not because they want to change the world. And people are emotionally invested in things because their money is on the line so they will believe all sorts of bull shit. Not only will they believe it, but they will make it their sole duty to share this information on reddit and other forums, spewing how “great” something is due to their explicit biases to wanting the coin to perform well price-wise.
If they haven’t been around long they will not realize that many of these altcoins can and will go to zero or near zero. This is one of the many long-scale waves that happen in crypto. The thing is, when the bubble pops… bitcoin is going to be fine. (Think of Bitcoin as Amazon in the dotcom bubble. When the bubble popped, Amazon and Google survived, the others didn’t.) It’s going to be the shitcoins with nothing but a website and a whitepaper that someone on Fiverr was hired to write for you that are going to be in trouble.
I’ve learned so freakin’ much about the market, whether it has to do with trading/investing, being skeptical, knowing how much bull shit people spew and since my natural inclination is to help people and steer them in the right direction… that’s why I created my first crypto-currency related video by starting with the basics and just explaining what is bitcoin:
I’m glad crypto is more popular now, because for most of the year I was feeling like I was living in an alternate reality that has its own vernacular that nobody can even understand unless they’re deep in the game.
One of the best things I learned from being in crypto is that the people who have been in the game for years have a way of thinking about the BIG picture of life in ways that exceed most people.
ProTip: Befriend people who have been deep into crypto for years. Follow Cedric Dahl, for example. He is a stand-up guy to say the least.
Can you handle the volatility of crypto?
When people put their money into bitcoin or altcoins/shitcoins, they do it with the prospect that the value is going to go up. They don’t even envision that it could go down drastically. But guess what. It will.
So I am here to do you a favor and ask you the IMPORTANT QUESTION: If the value of the cryptocurrency you invested in drops 90% tomorrow, would you be okay with that? If the answer is no, then you’re over-invested. You put in too much money. That money needs to be small enough that it doesn’t affect your life if it goes to near-zero so that you don’t get emotional and make a bad trade. You have to play the long game. Yes it might go down 90% but… what if that 90% drop is necessary for it to happen before it goes up 600%?
Here’s the thing… people want 100x returns. They want life-changing gains. And people are going to be trading in hopes of it. They’re going to get into shitcoins thinking they are going to be “better” because the “technology” is better or some other misnomer. They think it’s easy to “buy low, sell high.” Turns out that’s more gambling than anything unless you’re a professional trader… which… don’t be fooled, it’s not easy to be or else everyone would be. In a bull market everyone looks like a genius. In a bear market… people panic sell. Forums become dead silent. Depression settles in. Suicide hotline numbers get posted. Trading is a highly specialized skill.. you can’t really do it well unless you want to dedicate your life to it.
Did you get into crypto to become financially free? Or did you get into it to become a slave to the charts that make you manic? For 95%+ of people out there, it’s most likely better to just “dollar cost average” your money into bitcoin at regular time intervals and fuggedaboutit.
But most people are not going to do that because most people don’t have a background in financial education. So I foresee tons of people losing their money. Really badly. Really really badly because they don’t realize that they don’t have the balls to not sell if the price drops 90%. They don’t realize that they will sell if it goes down.
This is due to something known as loss aversion: People are more likely to act when they are in fear (when the price is going down) and will almost always never take action when the price is going up because they feel euphoria and greed makes them not want to sell. So the motto “buy low, sell high” sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t work that way in actuality. Most people don’t have that kind of self control or training. Just putting it out there. If anyone played poker professionally, they know exactly what I’m talking about. (That’s a past life of mine maybe I’ll divulge one day.)
Signal versus Noise
The internet in general (especially the crypto-space) is full of lots and lots of NOISE. Meaning… there’s tons of information… text, comments, videos that are masqueraded as useful but there’s nothing valuable or accurate behind it. Signal, on the other hand, is solid information. Solid data. Unbiased information. Usable information. Being able to discern a pure, clean signal in a world full of noise is the key to success.
This is why you shouldn’t believe anybody or anything you read on the Internet. Be extremely, extremely skeptical. It’s healthy for you. Surround yourself with different people and groups that think in different ways so you can get all angles and not get stuck in your bubble. That way you can pick out what is the actual trend or reality without being subterfuged by others agendas.
Okay, enough about this heavy shit. Let’s talk about MEDAX
It’s been nearly 5 years since I wrote this blog post when Medax turned 10 years old. That’s right, my baby girl is almost 15 years old and in that blog post I wrote about how I noticed she’s slowing down and getting older. But hey, guess what… she’s still the same beautiful young-at-heart little angel.
I won’t allow her to go down stairs anymore as she will limp a lot if she does. So you might not see anymore videos like this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BM4whKqgyaI/?hl=en&taken-by=antranikdotorg
Her hearing isn’t so great anymore. She used to start barking the moment she heard a key slip into a keyhole. But now she wont even realize you entered the house until you’re in. Her vision is fine. Instead of having to yell her name, I just use hand gestures and she totally understands those commands. And hey… you know what sense is still OFF THE HOOK? Her sense of smell. She can sniff out a tennis ball any day like a champ.
She walks super slowly and her legs are somewhat wobbly at times but I still take her on walks so that she gets to explore the world around her in ways we have no idea (they read the daily pee-mail from the neighbor dogs). When I throw the ball (yes she plays fetch still and soccer)… I throw it only a foot or two away from her rather than 10 so she doesn’t get overworked.
You know what. With all this said. I’m going to give my precious angel a short little walk right now. Life is short guys, live it up.
Yoga Challenge
I’m going to end my blog post here… my computer is rendering a bunch of yoga videos while I wrote this. I still have to make the thumbnails and then upload them and set it all up. So don’t miss what’s coming on my youtube channel next! The YouTube playlist is here where all the videos are going to be posted.
I hope to hear from you!
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