Probably one of my\ngreatest struggles is decision making. I hate having to choose what to have for\ndinner, what movie to go see, what modules to take and, mostly, what topic I\nshould choose for projects and essays. It just seems like a big decision. Make\nthe wrong choice and you end up having to write 4,000 words and spend who knows\nhow many hours, reading, researching and writing about something you aren\u2019t\nactually interested in, or feel is unimportant or insignificant. At the same\ntime, make the safe choice, choosing a general topic area previously studied,\nbecause maybe knowing some background which will help and make it easier, is\nrarely truly interesting, inspiring or rewarding. Personally, I often fall back\non British Imperial History. It\u2019s something I have previously studies through\nschool and sub-honours and feels safe, but, while there is a place for further\nstudy there, I\u2019m not sure its mine. So again, we return to the question \u2013 what\ntopic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe something with that can teach us about our society?\nMaybe we should choose our questions based on what is happening in our world\nnow and why that is happening? Maybe something that can teach us lessons that\nwe can apply now? Something to do with global connections and communications? Maybe\nassociated with political and cultural division? Why are we divided? Why are so\nmany peoples oppressed or excluded from society? Is there an ideal societal\nmake up? Are we getting closer to it? Or further away? What can history, historical\nevents and phenomena, show or teach us about the human condition? As far as I\ncan tell we are all as messed up as each other. No, maybe the big questions are\nnot quite the starting place I need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So maybe something with a personal connection? But I must\nbe honest, there\u2019s not a lot I feel a personal connection with that I am yet\nthat interested in studying. So there goes that option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I am interested in is connections. Connections, networks\nand infrastructures. There\u2019s a running joke among my friends that I am going to\nwrite my dissertation on trains. While I\u2019m not sure this will happen in its\nentirety, I will try work a reference to my first network love in there\nsomewhere. Ok, anecdote over \u2013 trains did spark in me an interest in networks\nand connections and the influences of these on how societies have grown and\nevents that have taken place. So here is a starting point perhaps? But I still\nfeel no closer to a topic or question for study specifically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what now? Well, now I\u2019m going to ask someone\u2019s\nadvice. No point going around in circles. After meeting with Bernhard, I have\nnow been reading and looking at the Esperanto movement, especially the Scottish\nconnections and participations. While I admit I was a little sceptical at\nfirst, I was told that sometimes you just have to go for it \u2013 and now I\u2019m glad\nI did. This is something I had honestly barely heard of before, but now I\nrealise this movement brings some many different cultures, regions and people\ntogether. It provides an extensive network, examples of connections, and a need\nand examples of the use of infrastructures (so I can look at trains, even if I\ndon\u2019t directly mention them\u2026). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point is, after all that faffing with what topic to\nchoose I was never going to get anywhere until someone told me to go for it and\nrun with it. To just take the leap. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with\nfinding the big or important question, or simply completing the task, that we\nmiss the opportunity to immerse ourselves and really enjoy history. I\u2019m not\nsure yet where this project will take me, but I can already see so many options,\nand whether I answer the big questions or complete the task, I\u2019m sure I will\nfind something interesting and enjoyable along the way. In addition, I\u2019ve\nrealised the importance of taking the leap: next step \u2013 do it without being\npushed! So, now it\u2019s your turn \u2013 Take the Leap.\n\n\n\n\n\n and reall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Probably one of my greatest struggles is decision making. I hate having to choose what to have for dinner, what movie to go see, what modules to take and, mostly, what topic I should choose for projects and essays. It<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5wNtZ-rz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1710,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709\/revisions\/1710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}