A for letting go of Attachments

A for handling my ADHD

A for Architecture? Not my favourite

A for Analysis - Archives – Articles – Anything

A for Alphabet Superset – Action!

Why?

Because I want to kickstart my blog through this series and take the chance to showcase my scattered work under one space

It's the first entry for a 6 months long challenge that i am taking part in called:
Alphabet Superset Challenge by Struthless

A for ANTI-PeRfeCtIoniSM

In this article, i want to discuss things that start with the letter A, and they are A lot (Pun intended)

I follow Struthless’ channel on youtube, and certainly I relate to a lot of their videos which are about various creative quests and ideas. Campbell has an attitude towards life that feels very familiar. The way he addresses existential dreading and creativity/ADHD problems so casually just sounds so similar to my voice. The way he talks about his self-sabotaging mind and the way he deals with it inspires and energizes me to face my own troubles.

A for Alphabet Superset

The bit where he addresses the mental blocks that stops us from reaching our potential just makes me feel like I am not alone facing this. Just watching one of his upbeat hyped videos fuels me to get up and do something

So, when I saw their video about the Alphabet Superset challenge, I instantly said, I am in! (you can get into the challenge or learn more about it thought their website Alphabetsperet.com)

I like a good creative challenge, and I like when it’s done in a community and shared space. It helps to build a momentum when you are surrounded by like minded people. I’ve done a few challenges myself throughout the years, like Oranjune, Pinkmai, Inktember, 12 videos Challenge in 1 month. Which I will post about later.

The best thing is the Alphabet Superset challenge came right in time while I’ve been failing endlessly to work on my personal blog/portfolio, which is the way I always wanted to showcase my various workings through online and print Magazines.

Why is it a failure so far?

I love their doodly animation style which is very quirky but very real. Shows how the ideas are running through their mental stream as quickly as it gets. But even if, it feels like their strength is in how simple and flowy their content/products are

Well, let’s dive straight into that !

A for Attachments

Every time i go to my laptop, i open those folder, i get so overwhelmed about: what, where, who, how & why. When, What?

I decided Quits…

but i insist, because i can't keep escaping. I've got to release the unreleased in order to free myself from those ATTACHMENTS

A quick google search about Attachments

That is an interesting one, although doesn’t make so much sense. This website translated Attachments as “Love”. I certainly do feel like I have some kind of emotional attachment towards my previous works. Maybe I never acknowledged it, and that’s why my relationship to every bit of a previous project feels so hard to let go of. It seems I have fell in love in the wrong place... and now, I cannot let go…

A for Analysis

My contending topic for the first entry for the Alphabet Superset Challenge is “Architecture” as this is what I studied for 5 years in Cairo University. But I chose to avert that topic to the next week under the name “Building Studies” for next week’s Letter B. This is because I have a deeper, more fundamental issue with unfinished or unreleased projects, & that does include Architecture but is not limited to that

Now, what does that say about my attachment to my digital attachments?

This is also to state that in my ABC, Architecture would never come first. 😐

But funny enough, in my ABC, I address first my attachment issues as the fundamental drive to my creative work.

This challenge is my attempt to overcome creativity as an expression of personal suffering to a field of expertise, sort of bridging the gap between the amateur bedroom artist that I am at the moment to a professional entrepreneur in my creative quests

A lot of times, I find myself not able to go forward in a new project because I feel like I haven’t put an end to the previous ones still. They keep haunting me and never letting me go forward easily with new opportunities. (Or is it just me that’s just holding me back :/)

A for Architecture (Journey Brief)

When I started the first Foundational year of Engineering, which is the year before going into a specialized department, I did terrible at most of the subjects that required studying. But I got an A+ in the Engineering Drawing Course.

Somehow, all those hours spent not studying, and just doodling, built enough technical skills and creativity to imagine and draw all those mechanical components with absolute precision. But also, this was why I had to retake 1 math and 1 mechanics course over the summer course :/

That was it, decisions were made. I heard Architecture was the place for people like me. I was like: Hell yeah! give me more drawings.

A for A.D.H.D

While I enjoyed the exposure and scope architecture brings into one’s life, I never really liked the field of work. I do enjoy designing, but more on other scopes other than modern buildings. But as much as I do enjoy design, I just can’t get enough of just doing one thing.

Over the years of my studies, I set myself to experience more. I always said yes to new experiences. I joined lots of workshops and summer projects to get my distracted mind continuously engaged.

Traveling in search of perspective and experiences has become a staple in my years. My first travel was a 2-month volunteering in Kigamboni village in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania Through AIESEC, through which the doors to summer activities were opened one after the other.

I grew a passion for music as I have found another outlet for my procrastination away from drawing through playing my guitar. It was great because I accidentally taught myself a whole lot about music just by trying to escape my endless architecture projects. It seems like I am good at studying and practicing consistently but just in another way…

I finally graduated and I was proud of my thesis, as I worked on something more on the conceptual side rather than technical, which gave me the satisfaction of working on something more for my self-exploration rather than for the grades and school.

Upon my graduation, I found myself a job as a content writer for an online design magazine startup. I explored the writer and researcher side of me, which came with great results. I had to give up on this job after only 3 months to seek a Master’s degree in Germany. As soon as I quit, Covid happened, which meant, I lost my job, and I am not going for my master's.

Back then in 2020, I thought it was good to have this chance for the whole world to stop so I could take a breath after this Architecture madness that I just graduated from.

During COVID I had to find myself an exit from lockdown just to keep a little bit of sanity. I went as far as I could from Cairo, my city, to a distant place called Siwa Oasis. Initially, I had planned to stay for a month or so. But, 3 years later I was putting a closure to my unexpected off-the-beaten road experience called SIWASCAPE.

My interest in many fields is by far my greatest strength, but sometimes it can be my worst enemy. When I feel like I am very scattered and unfocused. And when I want to shift from one medium to another, this shift takes time with a lot of friction in the middle of just feeling overwhelmed. Before my time in Siwa, I started a project called “Declutter” which pretty much was my attempt to reduce the unnecessary kitsch from my life, Physically, mentally, and digitally.

As many of my projects. It was lost somewhere between the mess and went through multiple phases without a definite closure yet.

I am 100% for the term that Casey Neistat used to define ADHD instead of it being “Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disadvantage” to “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Advantage”

I made peace with lots of my emotional trouble towards that scattering of ideas and projects. And I choose to believe not everyone can be focused on just one thing. I took the time over the years to practice harnessing my distributed focus powers towards work that is both meaningful and enjoyable to me and the world.

A for Archive

While I want to dive deeper into all the projects/topics I just mentioned. I also want to address some other works/ interesting quests that I went through in my years. I have a lot of stories that I think are worth sharing, and my drives are just full

I also want to build the habit of documenting and sharing my upcoming works. Which I certainly haven’t been doing very well after every project. I’ve done some work in the past for organizing my drives, but now it’s time to share what I have stored in them, either let them go, or share them here.

I like writing a lot, and I do it almost on a daily basis in my personal notebook. I writ for either personal or professional clarity. I’ve always wanted to makes a magazine just to share some of my stories.

The one thing I always want to talk about is sharing the parts of life experience that keeps me enthusiasted and engaged. And that can be expressed in every aspect I have been through in this article. Traveling, desiginig, doodling, playing music, ridind and fixing bikes, and even things i didn't mention yet. Starting a small business, decluttering. Cooking,… just lots of stories.. you get the point.

A for Action

To some up this one big story, here is what I want to do and where this project fits.

I will be posting 1 project /week following the Alphabet Superset Challenge. And before every break which is embedded in the challenge, I will make a volume for Alphabet Superset: 
Life Expereince Enthusiast Edition.

The actual project will be posted on other platforms depending on the type of medium, and they will be linked through the articles, which would be covering more of the experience around them, or just putting them in an article format

By the end of this challenge, hopefully I will have covered all my previous works through articles on my personal blog, and the bigger project will be the 1 collective edition of all these articles from A to Z.

I am thrilled that this challenge would yield 1 great result in the end.