The main characters and the theme motivated me to watch this drama (the ending song ‘Canvas’ by Hirai Ken is nice too). I wasn’t sure whether I’d like it at first, but it gets better the farther into the story. The drama, based on a magna, portrays the college life of 5 art students. It touches upon themes that many people experience in their teens: friendship, love, passion, self-doubt, career direction, and separation. Some people don’t know what they want to do in life. Some know what they want but don’t know how to reach it or doubt whether they have what it takes. Others are confident in their ability but can’t find a place in the world that suits them. Idealist and people who can’t seem to grow pass their teenage mindset would probably like this drama.
Life would be much easier if we all have a map telling us where to go. The problem for many is that we don’t know where the goal is. And even when we think we find ourselves a goal, we often have doubts: Is it really what I want? Is it realistic and reachable? What should I do to make it happen? Do I have what it takes to make it happen? Is it really worth it (and back to the question is it what I really want)?
If we are lucky to figure out what we want in life, be it money, love, comfort, or status, there are still myriad of ways to get there. And we often don’t know which ways suit us best. We want a map in addition to a goal. Knowing where to go seems more important to me than knowing how because we can change course and move in a different direction as long as we keep the destination in mind. So the bigger problem seems to be self-doubt.
We feel frustrated and dissatisfied when we can’t seem to be able to put in the effort to live a life we want. We know that not just the process, but outcome matters as well. We also know that, contrary what many self-help book would like us to believe, there are things we can’t achieve no matter how much efforts we put in or have the correct mindsets and methods. Should we try or not, continue or give up? Will it be worth our efforts, time, and other sacrifices?
There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil betowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tired.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
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