Author: Ness Gale

Halimah Ajibade, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Childbirth comes with changes, both visible and invisible. During pregnancy, the most visible change is the protruding stomach. However, during childbirth, most changes occur internally and in the brain. 

While the changes in a mother’s brain are not visible, they are significant. Studies have shown that the size and structure of certain brain regions change after childbirth. For example, the amygdala, which is responsible for processing emotions, becomes more active and better connected to other parts of the brain. The prefrontal cortex, one of the areas responsible for decision-making, planning and social behaviour, also appears, in animal tests, to undergo changes that help mothers be more attuned to their children’s needs.

During motherhood, the brain seems conditioned to send signals to other parts of the body to care more, love more and pay more attention, making the mother more responsible.

The existence of a whole being lies in a mother’s care. When my sister had her first child, I remember being at home with her. She was very tired, and I offered to help her watch her child while she slept. But soon, I fell asleep too, oblivious to the baby’s cries. My sister woke up, despite her exhaustion, to care for the baby. What made the difference? How did she hear the cries while I didn’t? An animal study published in Nature in 2015 suggests that this level of recognition might be due to oxytocin, a hormone that manages key aspects of human reproductive systems, including labour and delivery, lactation, and aspects of human behaviour. During childbirth, oxytocin creates a connection between the mother and child, possibly helping the mother understand the baby’s needs and distinguish their cries from those of other babies. This might be why my sister woke up to the first cry of her baby while I lay unmoved until the baby slept again.

Oxytocin also appears to play a role in managing emotions like depression and anxiety, with some studies showing a possible correlation between postpartum depression and lower oxytocin levels. As a new mother, it’s easy to become anxious or depressed, based on the child’s behaviour. In a small study in 2010, Yale researchers found that, after childbirth, the brain areas responsible for memory, emotions, reasoning, motivation and sensory perception increase in volume. These changes may be related to a mother’s increased ability to recognize and respond to her baby’s needs and her heightened emotional attachment to her child.

Emotional attachment is not the only change that happens to a new mother. Other changes include “mommy brain,” where mothers tend to forget things because they are so obsessed with their child. Hormonal changes also occur, including a sharp drop in estrogen and progesterone levels after delivery, which can lead to mood swings and irritability. Prolactin, which is responsible for milk production, increases, leading to lactation and potentially impacting mood as well.

Changes in women differ based on genetics, environment, diet, etc . . . These changes also last for different durations, some for up to two years. Although some changes may seem small, they are significant and have long-term effects. For example, studies have shown that mothers who breastfeed their children may have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

During this stage, women need a lot of support because it’s tough to get used to these changes. Besides adjusting to these changes, they need support while they take care of the child because it’s easy to forget oneself while focusing on the child’s needs. As painful as childbirth is, the joy that comes with motherhood is inexplicable.

It’s essential to remember that when we talk about childbirth and its aftereffects, that it’s not just women who are affected. Fathers also experience slight changes in their brains, as oxytocin is released in them too, helping them create a bond with their children.

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Simar Kaur, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

For some, places are a representation of rich history and architecture. For some, it is a representation of authentic food. And for some, places just represent people and their stories. I would say places are nothing but a concoction of bittersweet memories, memories that sway you from time to time. But a few places are so close to your heart that their essence flows through your blood like a gentle breeze. Imagine revisiting one such place after a long gap of four years! Yes! Gives you butterflies in the stomach.  

I had that feeling when I was revisiting the most prominent place in my life after four years — my home, the place where I grew up physically, emotionally and spiritually. People say that you can leave home, but your home will never leave you. Well! I certainly felt it after living away from home for so long. Each wall at our place was a display of my artistic self. You would always be welcomed home with the aroma of spices, topped with Mumma’s love. Her kitchen garden was her passion project and her money plant never withered. The living room always echoed with grandpa’s laughter and grandma’s stories. The freezer was always overflowing with my favorite flavor of ice cream that my dad would bring in after a long day at work.  

On the flight, I was picturing how my home would feel the same as I had remembered — like a bright sunny day. Home was where I had always belonged after fighting the battles of life. Home always felt like warmth in Mumma’s arms. But this time when I went home, I somehow felt that I did not belong there. I was not welcomed by my grandpa’s laughter this time. He was eagerly waiting for me to return and meet him, but succumbed to God’s plan before I made it home. My grandpa was a jovial and compassionate man. His smile was contagious, and all my stress would melt in front of him. But this time I was welcomed with his picture hanging on the wall with a garland around it. Without him, home felt like nothing but four walls. For the first time in my life, it felt like home was pushing me away instead of hugging me tight.  

Grandma had lost her charm after losing grandpa. She looked pale and weak. I was taken back to the times when I would lay on her lap and listen to the stories and experiences of her life. But this time her stories did not echo in the room. The only thing that accompanied us was terrifying silence. Everything felt out of place and order. People I loved had changed — some left their bodies, and some had grown old. Mom and dad now had grey hair and were not as energetic as before. Dad could not play badminton for the long durations he would before because of his back ache. Mom did not shout at my brother to get ready for school. And my younger brother had now turned into a full-grown man and did not fight with me like he would in the past. There used to be a lot of calmness in the chaos at home. It resembled the chaos in my life, and that is how I felt a sense of belongingness at home. But now my favorite place felt so lifeless. 

Not only had people at home changed, but also the things around the house. Walls were now painted in bright white, and all my wall sketches had disappeared forever. My mom’s money plant had now withered. She no longer felt passionate about maintaining her kitchen garden. I remembered sitting amidst her plants and listening to music for hours. I could no longer do that. What hurt me the most was that my mom had slowly given up on her passions.

I did not have a closet to myself anymore and my books looked like they were abandoned in dust. My brother had revamped the room, inspired by his favorite movie character. My pink fairyland now looked like a Marvel movie setup. These little changes made me feel as though I was not a part of the family anymore. I felt guilty of missing out on so much that it made me feel as if I had never belonged to this place I called “home.” But something that never changed was the love my family had for me in their eyes, and photos of my childhood in our living room that mom adored every day.

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Danyal Hakakzargar, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Despite its challenges, teaching promotes self-development by providing the opportunity to develop critical thinking, negotiation, leadership, and conflict-resolution skills.

• Critical Thinking

Teaching is a great way to develop several abilities, including critical thinking. Before making a decision, people can critically evaluate and analyze situations, offer solutions and consider the ramifications of those solutions. Although they can range in complexity, most scenarios involving students demand substantial thinking and consideration because they are also learning from their teachers and mentors as examples in addition to the course material. For instance, students at all academic levels frequently request last-minute alterations and deadline extensions, which could interfere with the meticulous planning and schedule. Teachers must evaluate the time remaining before and after prospective modifications and their impact on other parts of the course to prevent mismanagement.

• Effective Decision-Making

People in senior roles often have more difficulty making decisions in complex situations since those decisions frequently have a lasting impact on many or all of the members. Before making an informed decision, it is essential to use critical thinking and weigh available options. Nonetheless, certain decisions necessitate careful consideration, review, and approval from faculty members to guarantee compliance with institutional standards. For instance, during the pandemic, institutions offered teachers significant autonomy over how the curriculum was implemented; many of these professors eliminated certain concepts or switched them to an online learning format. While these modifications were overseen by the faculty, several courses including seminars, exams, or presentations had to be significantly changed as a result of the pandemic, even having some sections of the course removed. 

• Negotiation

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching is grading, where many students are either dissatisfied with the grading or are not aware of the grading criteria. While some teachers remain confident and can defend their grading, many fail to offer sufficient justification for awarding students a low grade. Teachers must maintain consistency in grading, and employ factual and logical mark distribution even though grading can frequently be a major challenge. Although negotiating and changing the criterium might seem effortless and basic, doing so can be just as difficult as developing the exam questions or grading criteria in the first place. Thus, negotiation must include constructive criticism, justification for the grade, and suggestions for how students can develop and learn.

• Leadership and Planning

Teachers must show effective leadership by setting exemplary standards and behaviour, while some teachers falsely behave more like bosses than leaders due to the power and authority bestowed upon them. This fear-inducing behaviour deprives students of the excitement and educational opportunities that learning should be providing. Although certain courses may contain more difficult concepts, professors should act as mentors and provide material in a way that is both reviewable and comprehensible, giving students the chance to seek assistance. Teachers should also use planning as a technique to develop a realistic schedule sufficient for finishing each task and covering any measurable contingencies for change, due to the rushed nature of post-secondary semester length. 

• Conflict-Resolution

Another difficulty that teachers frequently encounter is conflict resolution. This conflict may involve staff, students, or other members of the institution. Teachers must employ conflict resolution strategies to discover a workable settlement that is advantageous to all parties, rather than trying to convince the parties of who is right and who is wrong. Effective strategies include identifying the challenge, the current obstacles, and the barriers that lie beyond the conflict, as well as developing a common goal and exploring how it might be achieved. For instance, teachers frequently deal with instances where group members refuse to continue working together because they are dissatisfied with one another’s work. Teachers must hear the perspectives of both or all sides and explain the project’s or group’s common goal before coming up with an agreement, with the resolution being the primary goal.

• Collaboration and Social Competence

Collaboration and social competence are other vital skills necessary for teachers to understand and empathize with students while maintaining confidence and respect in their position. Teachers must create a healthy learning space with respect and dignity, where all students are welcomed and feel comfortable reaching out to teachers or assistants. This collaborative environment helps teachers identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses and accordingly help them improve, encouraging participation in office hours or exam preps, which are also helpful in their future careers.

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Danyal is a fourth-year criminology and business student at Simon Fraser University with a keen approach to business lawyering, authoring articles about various topics including self-development, education and conflicts.

Danyal Hakakzargar, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

• Inclusion and Equality

Professional sports can range from solo events with no teammates, like swimming and golf, to team sports with many teammates, like baseball and soccer. Being inclusive and providing each member with an equal chance to grow and succeed is crucial. Due to the lack of respect or perceived equal value among teammates, sports teams frequently fail to prevent and manage internal problems. Teams benefit from a cohesive mentality since they frequently include players of all skill levels, from amateurs with limited experience to professionals with extensive experience. The leading sports teams can anticipate conflicts and resolve them before they become heated or disruptive to the team.  

• Teamwork

Professional sports are competitive team activities where athletes must cooperate with coaches, trainers, and other team members. Athletes learn unity, productivity, and teamwork in a setting that also calls for passion and loyalty, whether they compete individually or as a team. For instance, to defeat other teams, soccer players must work with all team members, whereas weakly unified teams frequently succumb to pressure. Each athlete brings experience and values which play an essential role in achieving the team’s objective. Teamwork can be applied to collaboration and problem-solving, similar to leadership and discipline.

• Leadership and Discipline

Sports also help to develop leadership qualities by teaching athletes respect, constructive criticism, and discipline in addition to teamwork and collaboration. A strong leader is aware of the advantages and weaknesses of their team members and encourages them to strengthen their areas of weakness while remaining open to self-improvement and constructive criticism. While some team captains have commanding and domineering personalities, the most effective ones exhibit tenacity and comprehension of both their players and the game. Importantly, leaders often initiate and uphold professionalism, respect, and discipline within the team. Leadership skills and discipline can be commonly used for logical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving.

• Healthy Living and Consistency

Professional sports promote a healthy lifestyle that emphasizes consistency, balance, and agility in addition to individual and team skills. A healthy lifestyle, albeit subjectively defined, typically entails a consistent routine of sports or activities to maintain fitness, a balance of time spent on work, school, people, and other activities for mental and emotional health, and flexibility in adjusting to life’s changes. Staying fit not only improves one’s physical and mental well-being but also helps one concentrate and reduces stress. Generally, about 150 minutes of moderate-intense physical activity a week can reduce the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, many types of cancer, depression, anxiety, and dementia.

• Sportsmanship and Respect

Professional sports promote competition, passion and loyalty which can often diminish respect and dignity between team members and opponents, which harms its beneficial implications. Professional and sagacious mentally train to maintain sportsmanship and respect even in the most heated moments of the competition. While competition is the key factor in creating excitement and thrill, constructive competition can often take matters out of hand, resulting in players suffering critical physical or psychological injuries. Thus, athletes must de-escalate matters and try their best to help their opponents, such as marathon runners carrying injured runners to the finish line. These skills can be used to manage and prevent conflicts as well as boost unity within teams.

Professional sports can foster rivalry, fervour, and loyalty, which can impair their positive effects by eroding respect and dignity amongst teammates and rivals. Even in the most heated parts of the competition, wise and professional athletes psychologically train to retain sportsmanship and respect. While competition is the primary driver of thrill and excitement, healthy competition can frequently spiral out of control and cause serious bodily or psychological harm to players. As a result, athletes must diffuse the situation and make every effort to assist their rivals, such as when marathon runners carry injured competitors to the finish line. These abilities can be used to handle and avoid disputes as well as increase team cohesion.

• Analytical Skills

Athletes heavily practice analytical skills and require the rapid ability to collect, thoroughly analyze and remember information. Professional sports demand athletes to consistently train their visual, processing and problem-solving skills based on the information collected in almost immediate sequences depending on the speed of the sport. For example, tennis players commonly target their opponent’s backhand or forehand more often as they have analyzed their weaknesses and can use them as an advantage. The efficient analysis also allows athletes to recognize and adjust to changes using previous training and immediate judgment in addition to critical thinking. Analytical skills can be used for brainstorming, creative thinking and problem-solving.

• Critical Thinking and Conflict Management

Professional sports put athletes under a lot of stress, but they also help develop their critical thinking and conflict management skills. In addition to internal conflicts, obstacles, and risks, critical thinking can be applied to sports and competitions. For instance, to avoid serious injuries, athletes must be aware of their limitations and alert their coaches of any mental or physical issues they may be having. To avoid harm to the athlete and team, coaches must similarly consider the athlete’s condition and make appropriate choices. These decisions are often immediate yet crucial, underscoring the value of intelligence and skill development.

Professional sports importantly give athletes the chance to work as and lead a team while honing their inclusivity, sportsmanship, and analytical and critical thinking skills.

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Danyal is a fourth-year criminology and business student at Simon Fraser University with a keen approach to business lawyering, authoring articles about various topics including self-development, education and conflicts.

Eri Ikezawa (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Close your eyes. 

Imagine you can feel the soft pulses of your heartbeat beneath your ribcage, the rhythmic rise and fall of your chest, air trickling out of your nose as you exhale. The intricate mechanisms of your body keeping you alive behind the scenes as you shuttle around the daily activities of your life. 

Now, add an intangible pressure thrumming low and subdued in the background. It snuffles like a tickled murmur in your ear at first, before its momentum accelerates and the pressure incrementally begins to make itself known to you. 

At best, you simply try ignoring it — and at worst, you try to swat at it irritably, like a pesky mosquito coming to make a quick feast of you. 

But you missed the target and you’re left with the pulsating itch beneath your skin, the insidious salvia of the insect causing a bodily reaction, the residual bump already raised and large. 

Peer pressure, to me, feels like a similar experience. 

When I have experienced it at its absolute worst — when I was surrounded by the wrong friends and people — I recall it feeling like a heavy burden, a pressure so immense it completely crystallized my free will. It had felt like it had temporarily inhibited my ability to act with sovereignty. 

And for me, the nadir was the lingering feeling of having abandoned my own values or morals to appease someone else, or to “fit in” seamlessly, frightened of whatever level of ostracization I would face for exposing my own raw thoughts. 

Now — to haul you back to the present-day version of myself — I have come to the realization that peer pressure is much easier to combat as one gets older, after gathering more wisdom and becoming more selective with the company you keep. As long as you are surrounded with positive people who respect you and your boundaries, peer pressure can become a thing of the past in your immediate inner circle. 

But at the end of the day, it is impossible to completely eradicate the presence of peer pressure in one’s life. Whether it is in the professional or personal arena, there will inevitably be someone who will push at the barrier of your boundaries to test how safe and sound it is, attempting to manipulate your navigational sense to suit their own agenda. 

Practically speaking, it isn’t easy to withstand such pressure — and it would be unfair to understate the arduousness of staying resilient, especially when you aren’t just facing one pesky individual who doesn’t respect your boundaries, but a group of them with hive mentality. 

What it then becomes is a question of how to manage the stress, discomfort and pressure that ensues — whilst still maintaining your position, sticking to your guns under the baleful gaze of a pushy lobbyist. 

There is no one way to accomplish a 100% success rate, especially if you possess people-pleasing tendencies (as I do), but it becomes a matter of practice and experience. I recall much of my youth, especially as a teenager and early twenties, being an incessant internal battle of priorities between my own needs and wants versus someone else’s happiness. 

Back then, my perspective was that in order to be a good person I had to make sacrifices to make other people happy. Now, I am still a proponent of this notion and so that creed hasn’t changed that much — that is, I still believe that you do need to make sacrifices to make people happy. But I realized over time that there have to be stipulations to that; I cannot place other people’s needs over mine without some level of partiality. 

So now, I have modified that idea too: I voluntarily choose to make sacrifices for people whom I love and care for, those who will willingly reciprocate my efforts in kind, whenever I can and have the capacity to do so. And if I have a remaining reserve of energy, then be kind and do what I can, whenever I am able to, for other people as well. 

This all stems from the core, ensuring that I am maintaining and nourishing my emotional stock and wellness in order to then make more space for other people; I am choosing to make decisions that personally benefit me, without maliciously harming others, and it is not wrong or inherently selfish. And oftentimes, I really don’t mind going out of my way for other people, so it makes me feel better that I am not being stingy with generosity.

When I got to a point where I truly understood the weight of those words, truly entrenching and drenching myself in those concepts, it became easier to shed the burden of peer pressure. Rather than intensely sensing the malignant pressure of other people’s expectations and desires, I felt as though it glided right off my skin, a slick slide of tough scales protecting me from becoming malleable for the sake of ingratiating myself to other people. 

But as I mentioned earlier, just because it has gotten easier, it is always a matter of practice to ensure that I continue to advocate for myself, my values, and for people who may still struggle with speaking up for themselves. I don’t always succeed, but for each year, I know that my ability to endorse for myself is getting stronger and better. And so I take each “failure” as a lesson in hopes that, if a similar situation arises, I will be able to rise to the occasion next time. 

I try to remind myself, at the end of the day, that pleasing someone else by bending and moulding myself to suit their needs resolves the unsatisfying sensation of displeasing them temporarily. But if I compromise my own values or desires that are valid for someone else, the cognitive dissonance of letting myself do so will most likely have a lasting value. 

And I want to be proud of myself for making the right choices for a better tomorrow. 

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My name is Eri Ikezawa and I have an extended minor in psychology and a major in linguistics. I’m still on the path to quelling questions about myself and the direction I want to head in, but in the meantime, I have always wanted to find a way to help others and contribute to a community dedicated to personal development and self-love.

Nasly Roa Noriega (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, feeling my chest pounding fast as I am overwhelmed by so many questions swirling around in my head. What am I doing with my life? I take a slow breath, get out of bed and look up at the starry horizon overlooking my bedroom and ask myself with a clear mind: Am I doing enough for this world that barely knows me?

To wake up every day is a great achievement for human existence, it is to know that you have the opportunity to take advantage of a new day, it is the greatest challenge to wake up and have a path that takes you somewhere. Whether or not you are doing something for others, knowing what you are going to leave to those who come after you should be something to which you should turn your mind.

When I was a child I thought everything was so easy and thought of the ease of a better future. That’s why I wanted to grow up fast, because I thought I could reach the sky just by closing and opening my eyes. But I grew up. I do not know from what moment everything became so difficult but, today seems so uncertain, because it is not in my hands to change the world or do enough to leave that piece of heaven to those who come after me.

And I realize that I must survive many prejudices that hinder the realization of my dreams if I want to achieve that peace of mind that allows me to go further than I could have imagined as a child, and that my existence is indispensable in this complex world.

Years have passed and I still have things to do, but time is ticking and the clock of life is running so fast that it barely gives me room to breathe. In such a complex world, the most important thing is to face the fear that can block your mind, the fear that silences your voice when you want to be heard, the fear that paralyzes you when you want to take firm steps. This is what I do day by day: face that fear that makes us weak, look at the world without fear and involve others in my decision to make a better world, where we can live without fear of making mistakes and think like children, eagerly desiring that future and learning to live with fear, but not letting it defeat us.

In this world, a large part of the population does not know that I exist, much less what I am doing for the world. I do not know what the rest of the world does to improve it, but what I do know is that I wake up every day knowing that my voice can be encouragement to others who have lost the strength to continue fighting. I wake up with the firm strength that my children will continue doing their best to take care of their world, and to guide those who have lost their way.

One day I woke up and made the wise decision to volunteer at Low Entropy, and though I had never heard of this organization, something told me that they could allow me to reach other people whom I did not know, but whom I could encourage and guide through my words to continue making the world a shared one where, despite the distances between us, we feel closer every day and there are no differences, a world where we can give a lot without expecting anything in return. Then I understood that there are no distances and no barriers keeping us from doing enough for the world in which we live, that language will not limit me to reach more people and tell them, “Here I am! I exist for you.” I understood that I could reach more voices and we could form echoes that resonate in every corner, because every wise word I contributed could encourage someone, and subtle gestures could allow me to generate smiles from people who had lost hope. Living and thinking about other people keeps the Earth spinning, and every time someone wakes up they have the same ability that I do to wake up each day and give the best of themselves.

Thanks to Low Entropy, I understood that we can join more people to change the world, helping others to believe in themselves and go far, crossing distances and remembering our motto that I repeat every day: “Change yourself, Change the world.” The world turns according to the way you turn it, the steps flow in the way you decide to move forward and your attitude is what generates positive or negative changes in your life. Accepting that we are different, but that we can make a difference, is the first step in moving forward. Knowing that many people have dreams, longings and hopes keeps the Earth breathing.

Am I doing enough for the world? I am. Are you?

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Nasly is an economist living in Colombia, in a very nice coastal city called Santa Marta. She has been writing since she was a child, and has always thought that writing is the fastest way to speak without fear of expressing what we feel. Being a volunteer is a very rewarding job in Nasly’s life, as she believes there is nothing more important than helping without expecting anything in return.

Danyal Hakakzargar, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

• Critical Thinking

To reach more effective decisions, committees have a deliberative assembly that broadens the topic under consideration for committee members to investigate. Every committee member must use critical thinking as a tool to find, evaluate, and compare issues that frequently involve a variety of stakeholders and to come to wise judgements. If the problem at hand is viewed from a variety of angles, complex scenarios may result, forcing the committee to order its priorities according to perceived value. For instance, external and lobbying university committee members must understand the perceived value of a “tuition freeze” campaign for all stakeholders, including students, employees, and the institution. Hence, without critical thinking and considering the interests of stakeholders, the committee would not be able to reach a decision that is both beneficial and hedonistic. 

• Decision-Making

Decision-making is arguably the most challenging task of committees, especially if the assembly consists of diverse internal viewpoints. Depending on the complexity, topics are evaluated over an extended period after thorough stakeholder analysis, rational decisions, and voting privileges granted to the committee. Hence, an efficient comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of each decision is necessary, followed by precedent decisions on related topics, and a thorough analysis of how the decision will affect future policies and regulations. For instance, members of the university health and safety committee must thoroughly review all applicable federal, provincial, and municipal health regulations before choosing between the primary and alternate action plans.

• Individualism

Being a committee member requires one to practice working in groups and develop independence and self-reliance. Each member must independently do in-depth research, acquire data, and then share their conclusions with the other members while the subject is presented to the assembly as a whole. While not the most effective approach, it guarantees that each committee member is contributing to the overall goal of the group and is aware of the problem at hand. For instance, a university accessibility committee will frequently urge its members to go back to personal experiences where the university did not meet their accessibility needs, and then they will negotiate to change the rules to reflect these 

• Teamwork

Committee members learn collaborative ethics, which are useful in real-world circumstances, in addition to individualistic skills. Members of this group must respect and acknowledge the different points of view held by other members while also challenging one another’s arguments. Maintaining clear and succinct communication while being open to criticism and willing to learn are requirements for teamwork. Clarifying tasks and responsibilities within the group eliminates confusion, prevents mismanagement, and internal conflicts, all of which are essential components of cooperation. For example,  university committees frequently assign one member to chair meetings (president), one to handle negotiations (vice president), four to five members at large to address student communications, and one to two members to manage budgeting and paperwork.

• Leadership

As many events emerge and demand members of the committee to act immediately and control crises, leadership is a crucial ability needed as a committee member. Leadership is frequently thought of as having charisma and a rigid mentality, but it requires the ability to handle time and conflicts to keep the committee on track. While addressing the matter at hand, leaders must exhibit early recognition and awareness, integrity, and accountability, particularly in external communications between the committee and the university or other bodies. These abilities were frequently demonstrated during the pandemic, when schools cancelled classes and temporarily closed several buildings, limiting students’ access to resources and study areas. In these situations, members must take the initiative to plan meetings to examine the matter, obtain staff and student comments, and make reference to prior choices made in analogous situations.

• Networking

Assemblies that meet and communicate with other entities about diverse topics make up committees. Being a committee member has many advantages, including the opportunity to network with other committee members or representatives of other organizations, which can create positive impressions and connections. Thus, committee members must take advantage of the opportunity to attend meetings, voice their thoughts, and get to know one another. When meeting with governmental or community representatives as well as other university committees, they should also inquire about career opportunities. For instance, university external and community affairs committees frequently host lobbying workshops and meet with government and community representatives to introduce their members to senior professionals with vast experience in a variety of fields.

Although committees have a wide range of missions and values, it is undeniable that they expose members to a variety of subjects and activities where fundamental life skills like critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, and networking are acquired. 

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Danyal is a fourth-year criminology and business student at Simon Fraser University with a keen approach to business lawyering, authoring articles about various topics including self-development, education and conflicts.

Lauren O’Malley (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

When I pictured my future relationships as a single person, I never thought I would be in a long-distance relationship. As it turned out, I have had multiple periods of being away from my partner. The furthest distance I have been away from my partner was from Canada to Central America. During the pandemic, I was working as a registered nurse in COVID-19 intensive care units. My partner had gone down to build our vacation home in Nicaragua. I would have liked to have visited, but it was best to stay put in Toronto, as there was such a need for ICU nurses at that critical time. Initially, the time apart was supposed to be three months, but our time apart ended up being five months. Almost half a year! This time apart had challenging moments, but allowed us to grow as a couple in a way we would have never done before. We learned many lessons, but the top three things we learned the most were being patient when communicating, trusting each other and actively listening to each other. 

In long-distance relationships, you need to put more effort forward when communicating. However you’re communicating, via phone, video or texting, the action must be equal to be productive. When you are apart from someone, you are living your separate lives, so making the time to communicate takes a lot more patience. Sometimes one of us wanted to speak with the other, but the other couldn’t. Emotions sometimes took over in these moments. It would be frustrating when you needed to talk and they weren’t available. We learned how to be more patient with one another and not let our emotions spill into how we set the tone of our conversations. If we introduce a conversation with specific tones, that can become the focus, versus the actual conversation. When you’re not in the physical presence of someone, you can’t read their body language or always understand the scenario they are in. Having patience until we found the time to talk helped us have productive conversations when we were apart. 

As much as we needed patience in specific times when we could not communicate, trust was equally as important. Life can be unpredictable. Sometimes our days don’t always go as planned. My partner’s days had many more hiccups than mine. Power outages are much more common in Nicaragua, and they disrupt wifi connections. If he was unavailable for a FaceTime date, I had to trust that something came up or there was a good reason for him not answering. We can’t always be in the same place as our partners, even in regular relationships. Trust always has to be present for relationships to work. But with long-distance, your trust in another has to be strong, because you are not seeing them at the end of your days and getting that physical connection and validation. You have to have trust and have confidence that the other person has your best interests in mind, even when you can’t see it or hear it.

Actively listening was another big lesson that we learned when we were apart. I sometimes struggled to listen actively to my partner when we communicated our experiences. I was in winter lockdowns, with vaccine mandates, while he was in a hot, third-world country where the pandemic looked utterly different. It was quite a time to be apart in such different worlds. We learned to actively listen to each other to understand each other’s separate lives. When either of us made assumptions or interrupted, the other felt frustrated, as we felt misunderstood. In relationships, we need our partners to understand us, not to necessarily agree, but to have our points of view acknowledged. We learned to make an effort to listen actively, which helped us understand each other’s daily life better, allowing us to be supportive of one another even when we were so far away. 

Being in a long-distance relationship forced my partner and I to learn to communicate better than before. We had a decent communication foundation, but our time apart revealed what needed work. We learned how to fine-tune our skills to support each other daily. The distance would have been much more difficult if we were unwilling to put the effort in. Understanding how to support each other through listening, patience, and trust was the critical foundation to keeping the relationship strong when apart. The distance taught us much about each other and gave us the tools for stronger communication today, when apart and when together. 

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Lauren O’Malley was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, and moved to Toronto in her mid-twenties, where she works as a critical care registered nurse. Lauren loves her RN job, but aspires to educate and help people in other ways. Writing is one of them. Lauren values time with her family and friends, and loves to chase sunsets.

Nour Nazmi, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Long-distance relationships can be a rollercoaster of difficult-to-understand emotions—from the misunderstandings that happen because of the tools you use to communicate to the loneliness of missing your partner. But don’t let the challenges overwhelm you—you can make your long-distance relationship thrive with the right strategies and mindset. 

In this article, we’ll discuss three tips to help you navigate the ups and downs of a long-distance relationship so you can build a healthy and lasting bond with your partner without worrying about whether your story will be like all those unsuccessful love stories. 

Tip #1: Communication is Key

Communication is the foundation of any successful relationship—and it’s even more vital in long-distance relationships, where the lack of physical proximity can lead to feelings of loneliness and misunderstanding. Here are a few suggestions to help you become a better communicator: 

• Practice active listening: Active listening involves paying attention to what the other person says and responding to show you understand and care by avoiding distractions, asking thoughtful questions, and summarizing what you’ve heard to ensure you’ve understood it correctly. 

• Be clear and concise: Instead of complex language that often leads to confusion and misunderstandings, use simple language, avoid jargon or technical terms, and get to the point quickly.

• Show empathy: Empathy involves putting yourself in the other person’s shoes and understanding their perspective. It’s a well-known aspect of emotional intelligence that allows you to connect on deeper levels and navigate conflicts more effectively.

• Use non-verbal cues: Non-verbal cues, such as body language, facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice, can convey information about how you’re feeling and what you’re trying to communicate. These cues not only help to clarify or reinforce the meaning of spoken words but also help to regulate the flow of the conversation. 

Tip #2: Set Expectations and Boundaries

Setting expectations and boundaries early on in a long-distance relationship can be the difference between a failed relationship and a successful one. Here are a few suggestions to help you navigate this area: 

• Establish communication expectations: Establishing communication expectations often involves discussing how often you will communicate, what methods of communication you will use, and how you will handle miscommunications or conflicts. Setting clear communication expectations will help you and your partner feel connected and supported despite the distance.

• Ask insightful and revealing questions: Asking questions helps couples stay connected and build intimacy and trust. These questions may include the following: What are your values? What are your future plans? What’s your communication style and level of commitment? What are you not willing to compromise on? What are you comfortable giving? What do you hope to gain? 

• Discuss personal space and time boundaries: In any relationship, setting boundaries around personal space and time is crucial, but it’s especially essential in a long-distance one. One effective way to do this is to set aside designated times for alone time or self-care, during which both partners agree not to contact each other. By respecting each other’s boundaries, you can reduce stress, foster trust and mutual respect, and ensure you and your partner feel valued and supported. 

Tip # 3 Be Creative and Stay Positive

By staying creative and positive, you can keep the relationship fresh and help build a strong foundation for your future together. Here are three ways to stay creative and positive when your partner lives miles away:

• Pursue individual hobbies or interests: Just because you’re in a long-distance relationship doesn’t mean you have to put your life on hold. Pursue your own hobbies and interests, and encourage your partner to do the same. When you learn something new from these activities, you can use your new insights to keep your conversations meaningful and full of life. 

• Practice gratitude and positive thinking: It’s easy to get bogged down in negative thoughts when you’re in a long-distance relationship—but practicing gratitude and positive thinking can help you stay optimistic and focused on the good things in your life. Take time each day to reflect on what you’re grateful for, reframe negative thoughts into positive ones, practice positive self-talk, and surround yourself with positive people. The beauty of gratitude and positive thinking is that they don’t cost a thing, and you can expect to see positive results in no time.

• Volunteer or give back: Helping others can be a great way to cultivate a sense of gratitude and positivity. Consider volunteering your time or resources to a cause you care about, or do something kind for someone else. By giving back, you can shift your focus away from negative thoughts and towards the positive impact you can have on others.

Resources for Long-Distance Relationships

If you’re struggling with your long-distance relationship, you don’t need to struggle alone. There are many resources out there that can help you gain more clarity. Here are some free online support groups and services you can access:

Loving from a Distance: A website dedicated to helping people in long-distance relationships. They offer advice, tips, and a supportive community of fellow people who are in a long-distance relationship.

LDR Magazine: They offer free e-books with ideas for fun webcam dates, conversation starters.
 

The Distance: A podcast dedicated to sharing stories from couples who have successfully navigated long-distance relationships. The host offers practical advice and inspiration to help you keep moving forward. 

Whether you’re just starting a long-distance relationship or you’ve been in one for a while, these tips can help you stay connected with your romantic partner. Remember to prioritize communication, trust, and support—and don’t forget to have fun along the way. 

We’d love to hear your thoughts and additional tips! Share your experiences and insights in the comments below to help others in similar situations. Let’s support each other in building strong, healthy long distance relationships!

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Nour Nazmi is a Toronto-based writer, editor and purpose-driven communications professional. When she is not at work or volunteering, she’s either on LinkedIn Learning or creating new products for DM Tees Designs, her eco-friendly business on Etsy.

Danyal Hakakzargar, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Debates can be used in a variety of settings, such as discussions, disputes or everyday situations, while debating is a useful skill mastered throughout life. There is always room for development regardless of the exposure, even while some law students, like myself, learn to debate through applications and experience in case studies, legal themes, or research. 

• Contrasting Viewpoints

All debates require opposing points of view, and the first step in developing your argument is realizing that at least one, if not many, of the other participants, will disagree with it. As the key problem is rephrasing your arguments utilizing other arguments offered, debaters should never underestimate their opponents or put their arguments in a winning position before the debate.

• Strong, Well-Defined Arguments

The most difficult aspect of the debate is often introducing your perspective because an ambiguous perspective will damage your case from the start and perhaps put you on the defensive. By adopting a defensive posture, you offer your opponents a significant advantage in the discussion and make it difficult to objectively evaluate their arguments, let alone persuade the audience.

• Perspectives Over Opponents

In a discussion, all participants are presented with the same information and issues; as a result, it is critical to recognize and minimize personal prejudice, including bias toward your opponents. It is crucial to understand that you can only refute the opponent’s argument, including its generalizability and validity. Debaters must be aware of the limited amount of control they have during the debate, therefore they must make the most use of the resources at their disposal.

• Active Listening and Elucidation

One of the primary components of debates is rebuttals, and active listening is the most crucial ability. Strong debaters isolate the key aspects of the arguments and respond with logic and facts, demonstrating tenacity, knowledge, and recognition. Therefore, rebutting your opponents based on a wrongful assumption undermines your argument and questions your active listening skills.

• Data and Research

Debaters should use statistics and research to back up their claims, and they should also push for supporting evidence from the other side. Debaters must prepare findings, analysis, and supporting evidence for every debate, and they should plan to have the accuracy, generalizability, and credibility of their data verified.

• Rephrase with Reason

While it is easy to give in to the pressure of arguments made by the opposition, strong debaters rephrase or restructure their arguments using the reasoning put forward while remaining steadfast in their perspective.

• Rebuttal Through Critical Thinking

Debaters frequently lose debates while having outstanding research and material available because they base their arguments on emotions and interpretations, thus placing themselves in the position of criticism. Debaters must remain on topic and exercise critical thinking to create compelling and well-defined rebuttals, reducing the possibility of having their arguments factually challenged.

• Confidence and Charisma

One should have faith in their capabilities and continually strive to acquire new skills, maintaining confidence in personal development. Debaters get the ability to retain their composure under pressure and persuade opposing debaters of their persistence. Although logical arguments are frequently the most convincing, a confident debater inspires trust, conviction, and charisma in the audience, increasing the likelihood of support.

• Learning and Productivity

Debaters should learn from each other’s arguments and knowledge of the topic during the debate. While competition can be exciting and thrilling, it is important to value learning and having a good time while engaging in productive and healthy debates.

• Room for Improvement

Debates are fantastic opportunities for growth, similar to practically any situation in life, and their primary goal is to introduce debaters to a difficult topic where they can develop logical arguments. By taking notes and keeping in mind the key elements of other successful debaters, you can challenge yourself to learn and grow every day. 

While debate in a work or academic setting is slightly different from situations in daily life, it offers beneficial opportunities for personal growth. My experience debating has inspired skills including confidence, active listening, critical thinking, and being open to development. These skills can be employed in a variety of real-world situations, such as presentations, interviews, and contract negotiations.

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Danyal is a fourth-year criminology and business student at Simon Fraser University with a keen approach to business lawyering, authoring articles about various topics including self-development, education and conflicts.

Ignacia Riquelme, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

In our world, suffering is normalized, like it’s something that everyone should live and face. The negative actions of human beings become something mediatic. They become the main thing we hear during our day thanks to the media, and this can make us lose faith. As a result, living a positive life is sometimes seen as false because it does not seem possible for a human being to live in peace and be genuinely happy with the horrors mentioned daily.

This is why, when it becomes unbearable to keep living in these negative conditions and you choose to begin your healing journey by changing the way that you see your reality, some days you are probably going to feel worse than before, and your world is not always going to feel safe anymore.

The things that trigger you will be more present in your life. They are probably going to be waiting for you around the corner because now you need to face them. This is why we need to understand that, when we begin this journey, it is going to have different ups and downs. The process to heal and connect with your inner peace isn’t a straight line. The human being is a being of habit, and as soon as its brain notices something different from what they are used to (even when it is positive for the person), it sends signals to the rest of the body to keep it alert.

If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that healing is uncomfortable and can often feel more exhausting than the lifestyle we led before. And this is where self-sabotage can come in. For example, if you are someone who uses meditation to heal, your mind may have wandered in the beginning, or you may have even noticed strange sensations in your body. It’s ok, it’s normal, the body is not used to new changes, and when it feels uncomfortable, it wants to go back to its comfort zone. I lived that too. When I started my journey, my body and my mind had forgotten what it felt like to be tired. The first time I felt myself yawning during the day it scared me. I thought there was something wrong with me, but the truth is that there wasn’t. Over time, I had to teach my body and mind that it was normal to feel tired, that it was healthy to rest, and that you don’t need to be on your toes 24 hours a day. Getting used to a new version of yourself takes time, but it’s worth it.

At the end of the day, healing isn’t just letting go of the old habits and patterns that led us to the life we lived, and it’s not just getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things, it’s building the life you truly deserve to live. It’s creating the circumstances that you think are right for the best version of your being to come out and shine in the world. And no matter how much turbulence you have to face, at the end of the day, you know that everything will work out because you have yourself, and there is nothing more comforting than that.

There’s good in saying goodbye.

There’s good in giving yourself the time to find peace. 

There’s good in letting go and being yourself.

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Leave your thoughts for Ignacia in the comments below. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube to stay up-to-date with Low Entropy news!

Atakan Eligüzel  (he/him/his), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Many of us fear that something out of our control could happen and ruin our day. When we decide to take a walk, we might fear that it might start raining. We might want to avoid working in groups, thinking a team member will ruin our project. The frustration and the feeling of “I knew what was going to happen” can reinforce these thoughts. Here are several points to consider when you have doubts about the future of your plans and life.

Understand the decision-making process

In childhood, parents or caregivers make decisions for us. We generally have little to no impact on when and how much we eat or sleep, other than crying. As we grow up, people usually expect us to take on more responsibilities. On the other hand, they may want to assure our well-being, and involve themselves in our decision-making process. Poor communication might result in conflicts, reinforcing uncollaborative behavior. I remember the first time I became overweight and the resentment I felt toward my grandma, whom I blame for constantly pushing me to eat more.

In our careers, we often have to collaborate with others to complete tasks. We might see others trying to push their responsibilities onto us while they give little to no effort at all. We could learn from this that trusting others can result in sketchy results and frustration. We internalize that factors not in our control can ruin our best efforts.

We make a lot of decisions throughout our lives. Sometimes, we might rely on emotions rather than logic. We might have difficulties understanding how our emotions influence our decisions, which might make it hard to comprehend how we make some of them.

In these situations, take a step back and think about the initial problem. It is usually better to take constructive steps instead of blaming others or yourself. Even if your solution doesn’t work, you will at least know the root cause and be able to take further action if needed.

You are not the best predictor when it comes to the future

We tend to overlook things when we try to predict what is going to happen. If we have recently experienced negative emotions, we tend to be pessimistic about the future. We tend to consider the opinions and experiences of others more than we would like to admit, especially those of close relatives and friends. Just because your uncle could not learn Spanish doesn’t mean you cannot. When evaluating evidence, I suggest you investigate further into specific cases. Did your uncle really pay attention in his Spanish classes? How much time and effort did he actually invest in it, and how much are you willing to? Answering these questions can help you understand the process behind your decision.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst

There is a very good reason why many cultures of the world praise being vigilant while staying hopeful in ambiguous situations. When we are hopeful, our expectations rise higher and higher. If we fail to meet our expectations, we often feel more frustrated and hopeless. Our false hope and expectations amplify our pain, but we still feel like we need to be hopeful. Our motivation comes from the desire to obtain a positive result at the end, which is often not in our control.

When we plan to go out on a date with someone, we often expect to go into a relationship further. But when we realize that the other party is not interested, things might start to crumble around us. We might feel like we are not enough and resentful. But if we acknowledge that a negative outcome is possible, we would find it easier to accept negative results.

Let people show their skills

Collaborating with others can be trickier than many would like to admit. There are specific challenges to teamwork. Firstly, we need to stay coordinated and in contact with other members. We also need to accept that our ideas might not shape the end product, and we need to be open to working in accordance with the ideas of others. This can be hard, as the final work might not look as we’d hoped .

Especially when we doubt our group members’ skills, we might try to control everything they do. I remember when I had to write an article in a group of four people. I felt uncomfortable with my group members’ pieces, so I rewrote a big chunk of their texts and added new parts. After they saw that I had rewritten their pieces, they stopped working on the project, and I ended up doing most of the work.

We need to give space to our team members to let them show their skills. Just because we might have had disappointing experiences working in groups doesn’t mean every group will be the same. Almost all people have something valuable to give to a project, and letting them take the initiative is a perfect way to discover how they can help.

Conclusion

Accepting that we are not in control of everything and that negative results can occur outside our control is key to success. People like to work with those who accept that they cannot control every aspect of their lives and adjust themselves accordingly.

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Atakan Eligüzel is a writer who enjoys sharing his opinions and perspectives on various subjects and issues. He was born and has spent most of his life in Istanbul, and enjoys the privilege of knowing people from different backgrounds, who often have diverse perspectives.