If there was one word to describe how the last 6 months have been for me, it's psychedelic.
Over the last 6 months, I've gone from being a burnt out former 'gifted kid', who struggled to complete assignments, ran on only 4 hours of sleep a day, slacked off and procrastinated, had absolutely no social life or sense of direction and had an untidy mental state to becoming a person who gets straight As, has a good amount of acquaintances at school, and runs his life based on a routine that maximizes productivity.
Old me would be so proud of how far I've come, and indeed I do feel that I sometimes don't give myself enough credit for the genuinely insane things I do. I get good grades and I'm able to complete assignments and exams to an insanely good level because I know how to write in a way that hits the criteria. I minimise time spent on doing such tasks through shortcuts I've learnt from just blitzing through them with maximum brain power. I get shit done on time and actually have study habits instead of relying on what is the downfall of many 'gifted kids' once they reach high school—relying on raw intellect—which is something you just can't do once you reach a stage where what you need to know has to be memorised over multiple weeks and fully understood.
Apart from academic matters, I play the guitar, though not to a level which I can say I feel fully proud about. I recorded an EP and used to be a punk rock band. And until this moment, I used to write a music magazine. And for one day, I was a part of something I had always to be a part of—a friend group. It's a long and somewhat ridiculous story, but essentially, there was this one day where I was in the city and just realised how small and insignificant my problems were, and if I just put my mind to something, it will happen.
Well, it's pretty insane, but I randomly struck up a conversation with this girl who would later become my best friend. In that moment, I didn't care what past experiences made me think. I didn't care about whether what I said was correct or whether it would be worth my time. I just wanted to connect with this other person, and hearing about her life was genuinely interesting. I suppose we must've already had quite a good about of stuff in common, but that experience taught me how when you have positive intent, you don't let anxiety or insecurities get to you, and you just but your mind to it—socialising is easy. On the same day, only a few moments later, we walked into Queen Street Mall and met this group of people. And just like that—my life-long dream of being in a friend group just happened. It fizzled out as nobody except me and that girl really kept in touch, but that day was quite literally the day that my soul got reborn.
From the archive. Editorial · 4 August 2025 · phone notes carried verbatim.