Dera's Diary

Hello everyone, I can't believe it's that time of week again alreadys. Even though I was much busier this week than last week, I felt a lot more energetic. But that might just be me coming out of my post-exam exhaustion. I was listening to a podcast tonight that was talking about being strong and courageous the way we are called to in the Bible. And while I was listening to it (just to show how fear-conditioned I am), I started thinking about the football match I have tomorrow and how cold it might be and how I already feel sore and I haven't run at all. And how my performance affects the team. And how I need to be able to run fast and breathe right even though I find it really hard to in this weather. I also began to think about next week and the meetings and projects that are stressing me out right now. The point of all this is that, we are very scared people. I definitely am. We're constantly in the future thinking about all that can go wrong or in the past feari...

Hello everyone, A friend of mine recently told me that he would like me to do a recap of my recent blogposts because he'd fallen behind. If you fall into this category too, this is for you! Do you really want to be in control? September 4th 2021 - This week I was talking about how control makes us feel powerful, but we are often ill-equipped to handle and about how we tend to idolise our problems because it's easier to see them than to try fixing them. Finally, I spoke about how I feel that these days we call things 'our' truth to remove the access that other people have to that conversation. Even though we view things through the lenses of our experiences, the truth is the truth and it doesn't really take our feelings into account. You can do hard things (Part 2) September 11 2021 - In honor of world suicide prevention day and 9/11, I spoke about how we can reduce that feeling of loneliness that everyone feels by being there for each other and sharing our s...

Hello everyone, Today I had my monthly philosophical conversation on my way back from the town centre. Me and a friend were talking about friendships and I am honestly convinced at this point in my life that this topic is something that continues to grow and evolve as we grow. Anyway, what really stood out to me about our conversation was entitlement. The closer we get to someone, the more entitled we feel to know what’s going on in their lives. And I totally get it. Whether that’s because the whole friendship began because we were there for those people in tough moments or if we’ve just gone through a lot and shared a lot with our friends. Whatever the circumstances, at some point, we begin to get offended when we are not told certain things. And once again, I get it. If you’re really close to that person, why don’t they let you in? Why do they tell other people and not you when you’ve really been there for them? These are questions that you could ask your friends. But ultimately, i...

Happy Saturday! I listened to a sermon this week that was really revolutionary for me. It was talking about how as young people, but as people in general, we carry so much of our weight and sin around with us. First we fall in love with them, and later, the shame of having them in our life allows them to retain their power over us. The stress of having to hide them from everyone else and pretend that they do not have any impact on us, is exactly what keeps them so influencial. I know the freedom to be found in God when I die to my sin and have heard a lot about it since I grew up in church. But there are still certain habits and things I had done that continued to fill me with so much shame despite knowing that they didn't have any more power over me... certain things that felt impossible to die to and leave behind. It's weird... you can know something for sure, and yet feel so different and far away from it. Faith steps in to bridge the gap. With sin... with habits and actio...

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. I came across this quote recently on Instagram and was really fascinated. I mentally divided it into two halves. The first part was talking about taking sides and I think it addresses the current landscape of our conversations in the 21st century. I definitely do agree that not having an opinion on serious issues that affect the way we are able to live together as a society is a decision in and of itself. But at the same time, I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves these days to have an opinion on everything and in our quest to have opinions on everything and fit in with our friends, we jump into positions and opinions that we do not fully understand. So while I do think that ...