Chief Editor's Note: Finding Balance

It took me an unreasonable amount of time to actually start writing this chief editor’s note. Usually writing is a way for me to relax and express my thoughts in a way that feels more natural than talking, but recently writing has felt daunting. Opening yet another document and typing words in a way that makes any semblance of sense seems unreasonably difficult. And I started to wonder why that might be.

Eventually I realised that I had been doing way too much of it. I went through an intense phase of writing and writing for days on end over the summer and now I just can’t get myself to do it. It’s like my brain is tired of writing, which is tricky for an English major. But I clearly needed a little bit of distance from my texts, because I had been doing too much

The same goes for everything. Be it studies, work, writing, playing or what have you, there is a reasonable limit that we may cross without realising. It’s the mentality of “I’ll stop soon, I’ll just read one more chapter” or “one more level” or “one more episode” or whatever it may be. We lose track of time, and then all of a sudden we’ve spent the night telling ourselves, “only one more”.

And for a while that might be fine, but in the long run it is not sustainable. What we need to thrive is balance. I know that I desperately need to cut down my screen time and stay offline a little bit more. I study in front of a screen, I work in front of a screen, I text my friends, I watch the reels they’ve sent me through the day, I check my email, etc. all in front of a screen. There’s no balance between that and my time offline. I’m easy to reach because my phone is rarely even in a different room than I am.

I enjoy walking, reading, playing instruments and so many other things but somehow have not been able to integrate them into my rhythm to balance out all the stuff I do online. So, within this next year as I work on my thesis, I’ll definitely try to find that balance. And I encourage all of you to join me in that mission. Getting some time away and taking breaks is an integral part of life. We cannot do the things we love or achieve our goals if we don’t find a way to truly unwind.

I’ve just recently found my way back to my instrument and playing music just to play it. Back when I was a student at a music school, it felt more like a job and far too competitive for my nature, and I left it behind for a long time. And that break was exactly what I needed to turn something so daunting into something much more inspiring. That, in turn, got me thinking about inspiration and art as a process.

We all have some creative spirit and some imaginative powers in us. Harnessing those can be tricky and frustrating, but I promise you it’s that way for all of us. Sure, it comes easier to some, but it does not mean that they don’t get frustrated as well. I find it admirable that people try and create things in spite of the hardships they face and often inspired by them. I find that art is one of the most effective and accessible forms of balancing the chaos of life. If not creating, then enjoying art. I find myself calming down when I watch a movie or read a good book, don’t you? Where on earth would we be without art? I’d rather not imagine such a world.

With that, I would like to dedicate this issue to art and creativity. While we have expressed ourselves and balanced our lives with creating, I invite all of you to unwind by reading the fruits of that effort. In this issue, we have some brave newcomers, as well as familiar faces. In their BTSB debuts, Venla and Kristina have written poems. Venla has written a melancholy love letter to the sea, while Kristina’s poem is a gothic piece of jealousy, obsession and death. On a similar note, Valo has written a short story about the yearn for an eternal life and the consequences of such an act. Ronja’s poem explores the pain of being secretly in love and finally, Robi has written a wonderfully unbiased review of some movies he’s seen recently. Enjoy these pieces, and once you’re done, maybe try writing something of your own? You never know if you don’t try.