{"id":56243,"date":"2017-07-10T21:37:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T04:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=56243"},"modified":"2017-07-10T21:37:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T04:37:45","slug":"how-to-conquer-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/10\/how-to-conquer-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO CONQUER YOURSELF"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Hanoi, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I want you to be a strong spiritual warrior. A conqueror. But to conquer who? Only you.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One.<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nobody the enemy, but the man in the mirror.<\/p>\n

If you want to conquer, seek to conquer yourself.<\/p>\n

To be a true warrior ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about wrecking havoc on the lives of others. Rather, it is about building yourself. Building your mind, building your muscles, and building your personal virtue.<\/p>\n

Two.<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For me, I used to think of life as a battle between myself and my peers.<\/p>\n

Modern games make it like this: we are always competing.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • We compete against our peers in school, to become #1 valedictorian in school. <\/li>\n
  • We compete against our co workers to get that promotion or raise. <\/li>\n
  • We compete against other Instagram folks to get more followers and likes than them. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    To be frank, that is all bullshit. Why compete with others? Waste of time. Just compete against yourself.<\/p>\n

    Three.<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    When I was younger, I was bullied. I hated it. I got called gay, faggot, and was punked around.<\/p>\n

    One day I was like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fuck this shit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gonna be bullied no more.<\/p>\n

    I started (at age of 12) to lift dumbbells. I started with 15 pounds to 30 pounds. Then by the time I hit middle school, it was around 50 pounds.<\/p>\n

    I started to run, and lose body fat. I stopped letting kids punk me around.<\/p>\n

    I learned the fact:<\/p>\n

    \n I control my fate. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame nobody else but myself.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    And for me to become more powerful and more self-confident didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean pulling down the confidence of others (this is what bullies do). I learned to build my self esteem and ego from the ground up.<\/p>\n

    Four. I love having a BIG EGO.<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    For a while, I felt bad for having a BIG EGO. Now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like fuck it, I love my ego.<\/p>\n

    My ego is me. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take my ego too seriously either. I am like a big ass kid, playing around, joking, tickling my friends, dancing, and writing freestyle poetry.<\/p>\n

    I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a very stubborn person, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like bamboo\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I know when to be flexible. How do I know? I just follow my gut.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    For example, I write and publish whatever is on my mind. But I have no problems with editors changing my text.<\/p>\n

    I love making photos, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153own\u00e2\u20ac\u009d them. This is why I open source everything. I love to share.<\/p>\n

    I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m never afraid of my own livelihood. I grew up poor, and I thrived. Being poor was a benefit, it helped me become more resourceful, it taught me to hustle, and to tinker. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so grateful I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t raised with a silver spoon.<\/p>\n

    Five. TAKE CONTROL<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    OK, no more excuses.<\/p>\n

    You control your own fate. Make your own future. Do it today, do it now. Sow your own seed, and let that shit bloom.<\/p>\n

    No more doom and gloom. No more self talking down on yourself. Fuck that self-conscious thing.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Build your EGO by giving fewer fucks about what others think of you. Rather, think to yourself:<\/p>\n

    \n What do I<\/em> think of myself?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    This is the only ruler you should measure yourself with. A self-imposed ruler.<\/p>\n

    Six. MAKE SHIT<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    To me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153happiness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is overrated. Happiness is just seen as pleasure. If I wanted to feel pleasure and be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153happy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, I would just be high on heroin all day, watching porn and perhaps playing video games.<\/p>\n

    I rather see \u00e2\u20ac\u0153happiness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153human flourishing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Specifically, I think only feelings of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153joy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (true elation of your soul) is from creating shit. Making shit. Making art.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a human, and you make shit, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re an artist. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let nobody talk down on you.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    If someone tries to talk down on you, or not call you an artist, tell them \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fuck off\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, or just mute them on social media, or just walk away.<\/p>\n

    Suggestion: either be really fucking mean to your haters, or just ignore them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Most of the time, I choose to just ignore. They ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worth my mental energy.<\/p>\n

    Seven. What should I make?<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Make poems, make clothes, make music, freestyle rap, make photos, make blog posts, make videos. Just use your phone, tablet, laptop, or digital camera, or film camera (buy FILM NOTES).<\/p>\n

    For inspiration, buy PHOTO JOURNAL and STREET NOTES. Honestly, it is all the advice I wish someone gave me when I was starting off in photography and street photography.<\/p>\n

    I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only joyful when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in a state of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the zone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This is when I am in the process<\/em> of creating shit. Once I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done with something, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m bored, and then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m \u00e2\u20ac\u0153onto the next one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

    Eight.<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The crux of this essay is to encourage you, conquer your self doubt, and self imposed prison.<\/p>\n

    Make more art. Share it. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an outlet, share on [ERIC KIM FORUM].<\/p>\n

    BE STRONG,
    \nERIC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear friend, I want you to be a strong spiritual warrior. A conqueror. But to conquer who? Only you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/eric-kim-photography-0009403-cindy-project-O-1.jpg?fit=4928%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56244,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56243\/revisions\/56244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}