O testemunho do Özcan No. 3 (SPEAK)

 

I’ll just use a few quotes from really nice people to discover some ideas to make up for my lack of creativity. 

“Pessimists are usually right, optimists are the ones who change the world.”

-Thomas Friedman

I like this quote. It glorifies no one. It accepts both sides as they are. Makes me wonder what would come out of a project of a pessimist and an optimist working together. One pointing out the problem, the other one solving it. 

I was pretty skeptical about the quote itself when I first saw it because I thought it debunks the pessimists. Then I started discovering it;  Pessimism can bring certain creative power with it and according to a few ‘first hand’ experiences that I’ve had there are actually productive pessimists who start their day with full realization and get the job done until the evening. They are the consistency barons and baronesses of our age. Their mindset is built upon understanding that the future is blank. They don’t put credit into it. What matters for them is what they do at the present moment. That’s, in my opinion, exactly how you start to change things both in you and around you. By focusing on what you want to do both in arts, social and professional life at the exact moment.  

“The future is a concept, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now.” 

- Alan Watts

Now to deepen what I meant and to mirror what ESC has changed in me; I think I’ve learnt to balance the pessimism and optimism that dwells in me. Pessimism to stop hoping what the future might hold but to just focus on what I can do at the moment. Not for what I can become in the future but for what I am and what really gravitates me in the present. That proved to be enough motivation to kickstart a productive endeavor. Now after I start working, the optimism in me kicks in while I’m progressing in whatever journey I’m in and I find the tail of the motivation just to stick to it. Do I feel that I  produced a nice musical piece? Yes, I like it so let’s move on. Did I solve a problem while learning Javascript? Yes, it’s pretty simple but yesterday I was not able to do this. Let’s move on. It feels like just a natural flow of untying the knots that I didn’t know that were there. 

There is no way that we can predict what is going to happen as we have experienced this year. Fate is fickle, black swans are real so I say it’s totally acceptable to be reckless in whatever you wish to do. As long as you are humble that you know you’re not better than anyone else but also wise enough to know that you’re different than everyone else. 

Travel like a king, listen to the inner voice.

Ciao Spin! Thank you for everything.

 

O testemunho do Özcan No. 2 (SPEAK)

As humans we always tend to exaggerate our emotional relation to our past. Whether they are sweet memories or sour memories we always acknowledge them more intensely than they actually were. For a beautiful sunny sunday that we remember,the sky is usually bluer and a rainy sky could’ve been recalled as darker in our memoirs. Obviously, that’s one of the strongest traits of our kind that drives our creativity process. But if this is left unchecked and unrecognized it can drain our relation to our present which will naturally prevent us from noticing small important details as every moment is beautiful as it is.

Since my ESC has started, I’ve been putting myself into many challenging situations both in my project and social life to see what kind of reactions will spruce up inside of me. This method of trial and error works for me as long as the way I reflect on my actions allows me to implement new ways of dealing with black spots. 

Whatever you’re doing it’s of crucial importance that you shouldn’t have fear or self doubt but just try so that you can understand how your surroundings and of course your inner peace responds to it. You really don’t need to search for challenges since fate, whether it’s governed by randomness or a divine power, will throw you in them without asking your opinion. The best you can do is to accept the circumstances and create opportunities out of it both for yourself and for other people.

 My journey still goes on despite all the unexpected changes as fate likes it. I can tell this is becoming an interesting and a complete life changing experience as a whole. I’m looking for small details that can help me change my perspective and make the most of it so that I can contribute to my creative process. Happy to be here and witnessing.

O testemunho do Özcan (SPEAK)

At one moment, I’m opening my eyes with the blink of the “you may unseat your belt” light and I can’t contain the adrenaline rushing through my veins dictated by stepping into a place I’ve never been before. All the advertisements, car plates and a new unknown word to ask for a bottle of water are not enough to convince my mind that I’m in a new place, some place different than I used to. It’s the shock of changing everything related to my life that tangles with my feelings and at the same time what gives me the reason to experience as many things as I can because here I am, standing in front of the Humberto Delgado Airport whispering to myself: “You’re growing out of your pot and the garden looks amazing from here.”

In the first days you feel like you don’t really belong where you are and at the same time you can’t really attach your existence to another place else. That’s what makes you free from any kind of form that you are molded into with your past experiences and gives you new things to focus on. This freedom to grow into something that matters not only for you but also for the others has always been fascinating to me and that’s why travelling, identifying new problems and working on solving them makes me feel complete. And from what I have experienced in these three weeks, SPEAK is the right place to implement new ideas thanks to their communal vision of embracing and listening to different mindsets.

As an introvert, I can say I’m quite familiar with how hard it can get for one to jump into conversation with other people and start sharing his/her life. To make this integration smoother is just one of SPEAKs aims. They organize language groups which are led by buddies and events to foster the connection between people in a city. I’ll be taking part in both activities throughout this year.

One of my favourite lyrics is from Morrissey saying, “It takes strength to be gentle and kind”. I can easily say I’ve been seeing a lot of powerful people here under this beautiful sky.