Why I'm not competing anymore.

I, Kiki Hempell have decided to pledge to no longer feel as though I need to compete with other people, but rather compete with myself. You see, I have come to realise that I believe society is toxic and in no way good for anyone's mental health.

The more that I think about how I value other people's perspectives and how I should always be one better than the next, I begin to feel depressed. Why do we do this to ourselves? Do we know that everyone seems to experience some form of competition, even when they look like they have nothing at all? So shouldn't we all be a little kinder towards the people who are feeling like they are losing the race?

You would have thought as an intelligent and rational race of beings that we would be immune to this sort of feeling. In fact, I think that it makes us all worse.

It seems like we all have this power to use it not only on ourselves but also the people around us. You might be thinking right now that can't be me; but you couldn't be more wrong. There have also be times that I realise that I also do it to others until I don't see it until I am far too late.

No wonder I have come to prefer fictional worlds rather than the real one. But I guess not even I can seem to escape it completely as fiction is simply a way of reflecting what we already know and understand of reality. Plus, as Halliday says in Ready Player One: '...as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's the only place that you can get a decent meal. Because reality is real. You understand what I'm saying?'

So if you are having the same predicament as myself, or realise that you are causing it, it's ok, you are now in good hands. This is where you stop and see yourself as being great as you are. You can only be your champion. Don't care about anyone else, they don't matter. Maybe if we all come to realise this, maybe the world will be a slightly better place. Just remember my new mantra: you are important and no one can make you or your achievements feel less. As at the end of the day, we are simply moving trains on set to different destinations yet on the same track.

I’m always on your side,

Kiki

Comments

Thoughts of a Bookworm #5: Goodreads Choice Award is Fake

Hello! So, I know that it has been some time since I was last writing to you all. But I saw an email the other day and it really got me that I couldn’t not share my thoughts on it. As we all know it’s that time of year again. The fairy lights are beginning to twinkle, the days and nights are getting darker and colder and we are all starting to look ahead to the next year. But what comes before next year? Well, the Goodreads Book Choice Awards of course. One of the biggest events in a bookworm’s calendar. But personally, I think the whole thing is an insult to the whole book community. Obviously, when I was younger I didn’t think any different to most bookworms. However, I have come to realise that it isn’t necessarily what is the best book of the year but rather a popularity contest. More so now than ever with the insurgence of ‘BookTok’. Honestly, I don’t think we will ever get a book worthy of the title ever again. It has become a pure vanity project. Take me back to the T...

Thoughts of a Bookworm #6: Booktok is killing literature

Booktok. One of the most exciting community spaces for a reader in the past five years. A place where there is a big online community giving insight into old and new releases. Reviewers who are receptive to their audience and you don't have to be 'somebody'. This is no branded bookclub. It is a place for all people with different tastes come together to share what they truly love. Books. I have to be honest, I have also been a fly on the wall. Using their recommendations many a time for myself or as research to help someone else in their favourite genre. It can be a great tool. But there are times where I have thought that I was giving into the book version of 'fast fashion'. But what do I mean by 'fast fashion' exactly? Well, have you been watching recently? Especially in the romantasy space where plots have been subverted to a simple trope. One huge example that I tend to see is 'how much spice is there?' I get it. You want certain things to make...

A Wedding in the Country by Katie Fforde

SYNOPSIS Lizzie has just arrived in London, determined to make the best of her new life. Her mother may be keen that she should have a nice wedding in the country to a Suitable Man chosen by her. And Lizzie may be going to cookery school to help her become a Good Wife. But she definitely wants to have some fun first. It is 1963 and London is beginning to swing as Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a new dress with a fashionably short hemline, and moves in with two of her best friends, one of whom lives in a grand but rundown house in Belgravia which has plenty of room for a lodger. Soon Lizzie's life is so exciting that she has forgotten all about her mother's marriage plans for her. All she can think about is that the young man she is falling in love with appears to be engaged to someone else...