Hi! It’s Annie!
There’s a lot I could talk about and a lot I’m not sure if I should talk about right now. For one, Hallie and I are going to the ATEEZ concert tomorrow. I made a previous post about how nervous I am for that during this current spike, and I hope that everyone is able to stay as safe as possible. There’s also the release of the new ‘Legend of Vox Machina’ television show. But, though I had plans to cover that initially, I don’t think I will be anymore. My opinion watching it is that I felt it didn’t have any of the charm or development of the original, so I won’t be watching enough of it to actually review it. So, because my initial ideas have already been covered or thrown out the window, I wanted to take some time to talk about something that is actually calming for me. Especially because I’m far more freaked out about tomorrow than I probably should be. And what always calms me down, is my ultimate bias, Kim Namjoon. A lot of the time because of the amazing wisdom that comes from him. He even recently went on Weverse for hours to give struggling ARMYs advice. This man has my whole heart. So I’m going to go through some of his quotes that have most helped me.
“Life is not speed, but direction. Expectations never end.”:
I think people often view Namjoon as more wise figure than actual human person. And I think his responses on Weverse most recently proved that he is an actual human person who happens to be wise. He not only gave advice, but also connected with ARMY over having similar flaws to what they described. He talked about how he often felt as though he doesn’t finish many projects and he can’t focus, but then he also turned around and gave out advice like this. An ARMY described how she often felt as though all of her peers were surpassing her, and Namjoon noted that everyone will always have expectations about you, but that you only live life on your own time. It’s a comforting notion for everyone who’s stuck inside right now and feels like they can’t really go anywhere in their lives. I am definitely one of those people.
“I think to be born means pain, it’s just that sometimes one may overcome that pain and turn it to joy.”:
This is another quote from his recent stint on Weverse. This one comes off dark in the beginning, but I think this is the most comforting thing he said for me. Because he’s not saying that pain is all life is or most of what life is. Instead, he’s pointing out that none of us are alone. It is perfectly natural to struggle through things sometimes and feel pain in your life. In fact, this is how he stated that pain is not all there is. He goes on to say that everyone finding their own directions and being able to share that with other people is one of those forms of joy. It was a long comment that was a lot of him musing about life, but it was a long comment that proved that we all have more shared experiences than we think we do.
“But still, this day will end when the second hand and the minute hand overlap, the world holds its breath for a very brief moment.”:
Literally all of ‘Zero O’Clock’ is amazing for every reason. The song itself talks about bad days, especially bad mental health days, and how each new day is an opportunity for something good. Or at least something better. It even talks about blaming yourself for your feelings and feeling like everyone is living life faster or better than you are. A lot of the things Namjoon continues to talk about when talking to people on Weverse. Jimin even talked about how much he connected with the song and how it felt like a comfort to him too. The song is gorgeously written and one of the closest you’ll find to actually talking about mental health in a relatable and comforting way through music. And Namjoon writes about it because he’s gone through difficult times with his mental health himself. And the song also includes the lyrics; “and you’re going to be happy”. Which is nothing short of lovely.
“I think there’s no need to live your life based on the standards of others. Everyone says “dream big”, but I don’t think you have to live so fiercely like that all the time.”:
This is something I’ve really taken to heart recently. There’s this idea that you have to have a big career dream and you have to achieve it in order to be successful. But that’s often not the way we are. Who ever said that our dreams have to be based off of our careers? Some people have dreams that are more based in things like travel, or family, or even hobbies. You don’t need to have a big fanciful career for everyone to see in order to be successful. And that’s what Namjoon is saying here. Just because society doesn’t view your dreams as their definition of “big” doesn’t make them any less important. And if you don’t know what your dream is quite yet, that’s ok too. We all aren’t born with a dream in our heads that we have to see to completion. We live and we learn and we develop based off of that. What society usually views as dreams more often than not places unreasonable expectations on young people. Remember that even those things that you think are little, are just as much dreams as BTS wanting to become world famous. It’s based on your perspective. Not anyone else’s.
“Happiness is not something you achieve. You can still feel happy through the process of achieving something.”:
This is another thing that I love because it tears down societal expectations and definitions. It seems as though quite a lot of people have fallen into the trap of thinking they will be happy in the future when they have ticked off all of the things on their list that they feel they need to be happy. I will admit, there have been times where I’ve caught myself thinking this way. But this form of thinking causes you to miss everything important and eventually not be happy once you’ve ticked off all of those things. Because, once again, you’ve missed the point. Will those things make you happier? That’s quite possible. But what will make you really happy are things that are more involved in the journey of getting there. Like the people you meet or the things you learn about yourself. Happiness is not a far-off goal. We treat it too many times like it is. It is a state of being that you can find in anything. It just takes some work to retrain your brain to stop thinking of happiness as something you have to achieve.
“There are many sad days. But rather than sad days, we hope to have better days. That’s what makes us live. That’s what makes us dream. That’s what drives us to desire for something.”:
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that my mental health in quarantine hasn’t been the greatest. And honestly, this is kind of where Hobi starts coming in. What Namjoon is saying here is what J-Hope has based his entire brand off of. The idea that we all need hope and that hope is far more important than we give it credit for. It’s what gets us through the sad days. This is why it’s so touching when Hobi refers to ARMY as his hope in turn. Because we all help each other dream and aspire for better days when we’re at our worst.
“No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, your gender identity, just speak yourself.”:
This one is passed around a lot and I’m pretty sure I’ve brought this up in a past post myself. This was important not just because of the message, but also because this was BTS indisputably supporting several causes at once. They fully came out in support for the LGBTQIA+ community and several others with this statement. It also encourages their main message, which is to love yourself and find your own voice. I think most people have heard this by now, but I don’t think we should ever underestimate just how much reach this quote had and just how much it accomplished.
“The fans don’t hurt me, I hurt myself.”:
I only include this, because I need to talk about just how protective Namjoon is over ARMY. It’s built up over time, where Namjoon in many interviews subverted any questions that suggested that ARMY were crazy fans. Lately this has built up to him prompting people like James Corden to apologize to ARMY on air and him boldly and matter-of-factly stating that they get all of their votes through real people and that there are no bots involved. Namjoon will never not stand up to others on our behalf, and I fall in love with him just a little more every time he does it.
“In Korean, the word ‘future’ is made up of two parts. The first part means ‘not’, and the second means ‘to come’. In that sense, ‘future’ means something that will not come. This is to say: The future is now, and our now is us living our future.”:
I like this one, because especially now we can all get stuck in looking to the future and feeling miserable that we aren’t there yet. Worrying about the future can distract us from paying attention to what’s so great about what we’re experiencing now. For example, though I’m really not happy that I’m stuck inside, my family has been even closer than we’ve ever been before. You can have hope that you’ll do all the things you dream of doing, but don’t let that stop you from paying attention and living your life now.
Namjoon is now my bias, so I had to do a new post for him because of this change. But he’s also such a comfort to me because of many of these quotes. I’m forever grateful that the entire rap line have all talked about their experiences with anxiety and depression. Them being able to talk about their experiences is what I imagine is majorly helping many ARMY right now who are struggling with their own mental health due to the state of the world. I know I certainly have found comfort in their words. I think everyone could do to listen to some of the things that Namjoon says. But also, remember to think of Namjoon as a human being even if you do find comfort in his words. Namjoon has often found himself placed on a pedestal, and has opened up about how that can be difficult for him. So listen to his words, but also remember that he’s gotten to these conclusions by having the experiences that we all do. And that’s what’s important. That we all learn that we’re more alike than different. Personally, I’m really excited that I recently was able to nab a pair of his jogger pants. Thank you Weverse for restocking! But other than that, knowing that Namjoon also has had his issues with anxiety will help me through tomorrow. And him sharing his own experiences felt like a warm hug that made me sob at the concert. I hope that BTS tours again this year so that I’ll be able to experience a Namjoon ending ment again. Though hopefully Covid is back under control by then so I won’t freak out about going to that concert.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 