Fall Down Seven, Stand Up Eight
End of Summer blues bring opportunity.
When the leaves begin to fall, and the dust settles around us. After all the hazy beach days, extravagant parties, dancing until the sun comes up and pop songs that've been ringing in our ears for three months straight, we awaken to a sense of confusion and angst, haunted by the most luminously obvious of post-summer questions, what now?
Every summer has a story. A plethora of people, places, and things meshing together to create memories. Moments. Experiences, which help shape who we are and who we want to become.
But what do we do when summer ends? Well ... I've given it some thought, and I guess the answer is ... throw yourself into something new.
Radical is a passion project I started working on around a year ago, the purpose was to channel my post grad crisis into something productive. The existential questions start coming at you fast when you're two months from college Graduation and still have no clue what you want to do with your life, you have no jobs lined up and are basically just bouncing around aimlessly waiting for fate or serendipity, or anything for that matter, to sort your life out for you.
That's when Radical came up. I've always wanted to have my own platform for writing, for creative expression and artistic inspiration. In Cairo there are an abundance of well educated, talented and thoughtful people who have yet to meet one another. With very few platforms upon which they can be discovered and talk about the things we all love. Art. Fashion. Music. Writing. The Creative Process. The Struggle. All of it. Many of these things are still widely considered "useless" professions in our city. I mean why be an artist when you could be a banker, right? ... Very wrong actually. There's nothing wrong with either, or both, if you have the time and capacity.
Please keep in mind, your post summer project doesn't have to be entirely well thought out or even a project at all. It can be a challenge, a social experiment, an exercise routine, anything really, as long as you find something that you are passionate about to throw all that excess energy into. The idea is to push your limits, and try and accomplish something new for a month or two. You'll find that the summertime sadness never settles in, and instead you'll be surrounded by a cool winter breeze and a fresh new season in no time.
I used to compartmentalise seasons, associating Summer with a certain intangible sense of euphoria and Winter with a lethargic sense of ease. However, I've come to realise that fluidity in the way you perceive the seasons allow your time to flow better, plan ahead and look forward to the future. Because at the end of the day, if you're going to start something, then just start now.
“It’s a terrible thing in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
