Personal on Paco's Log

The state of the world scares me, and I don’t know what to do about it

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The recent events of the world are unsettling me. Right wing parties are becoming competitive forces around the world. Housing is becoming extremely expensive. The trumpets of war are being heard more clear than ever during my lifetime. It is really difficult to make a life, or think what would you like to do in this situation. I have the sense that we are in a world turning, and that the society we have known is going to change. And I am not sure if we are prepared for it.

Reflections on my own attention

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the last few years I have noticed a clear decline of my attention span. Every time I find myself trying to focus on something, my mind goes to a completely different place, and I loose my focus just seconds after starting thinking. I am aware this is known, and while multiple alternatives and fixes are provided, I do not find any of them suitable for me.

I am a machine learning scientist, thus, I am glued to my screen for several hours a day. Usually, we have to solve complex problems, that require some deep thinking (not always) which can be draining. Of course, my brain prefers to reach out for my phone before having to really put some thought into something, and do some mental work. This is something that do not happen to me when I am doing physical activities (or at least it is not that detrimental). If I am at the climbing gym, I do not have the need to reach out my phone and start scrolling, or to look what’s new in Hacker News.

My relationship with nature

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I was born in a small mountain town, and that I think has impacted me. Mountains were always there, in the distance, like giants that are calling you. My early years were full of time outside: biking, playing soccer, or just fooling around. I remember vividly trying to make tree houses, not with success, but enjoying the process. Also having lunch with my family in the mountains. While I did not hike a lot with them, we spent time there. However, during my teenage years, I did not go much. Other things occupied my time (mainly thinking about love and other stuff), but after a hard breakup, and since I wanted to improve my stamina, I started running. Given that the mountains were there, it was natural for me to go running there. Then, something clicked. I felt free, enjoyed my time there, and started wandering, with no clear path. I started scrambling (sometimes with pretty bad consequences if I fell), but mainly just being there, thinking. Somehow, I think that time in the mountains made me who I am today. I still enjoy being out there, it makes me feel energized. However, I do not reach the same state of mind as when I was a early adult, when I was just present, thinking about all those things that I gave importance to (spoiler alert: they were not that important). I miss that, and I miss nature now that I live far away from the mountains. For me they are a shelter, that I can always go back to. I hope they will always be there for me.

The no-buy year experiment

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Lately I’ve been having a debate with myself. In a lot of cases, I feel that I am pretty intentional with the things that I have in my life. In areas like friendships, work or family, I just have what I need. However, and because I have taken up a few hobbies and I had a bigger budget, I have been buying more material stuff. I do not like this, and I would like to change that aspect of my life, or at least improve it. There are multiple books about minimalism, and I have read quite a few of them: