Felixfalck
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Self Improvement, chapter 1
🕑 Added 2023-06-07 02:05:31 +0000 UTCSelf improvement hypnosis? Hmm.
Rachael had recently been recommended self improvement hypnosis by her best friend, Rebecca. It was supposedly a powerful tool for reinforcing positive habits whilst also suppressing bad ones. She could think of many habits she'd prefer to remove, like how she ate when she stressed, or dismissed people in a non-friendly way whenever she had stuff on her mind. Still, messing with her head? what really concerned her though was the fact that the audio files were meant to be played while she slept, sending subliminal messages into her unconscious, vulnerable mind. It was a mind she prided herself on, her recent academic success could testify that it was indeed a sharp one.
In recent times, most scholarships had been granted to aspiring students of difficult backgrounds. Minorities, poor people, poor minorities and handicapped to name a few. Rachael was however the exception. She came from a working class family. She had a younger sister and two loving parents. They by all means fell under the definition of being a "nuclear family".
With her short, brown hair and unimpressive figure, the only truly striking feature of Rachael would be her intellect. She'd never actually taken an IQ test before, but would most probably land somewhere in the 150 to 160 point range, comparable to what Einstein is believed to have had. The only true struggle she could ever claim to have experienced was the obvious favoritism certain teachers showed for the male students when she was younger. Despite her clearly being the better, smarter, more diligent pupil, some teachers refused to acknowledge her abilities purely on the grounds that she was a woman, or at that time, a girl.
That wasn't the case anymore. Her professors loved her. Each of her assignments were like a godsend to read. Some might say she's wasting her talents pursuing a career within sociology and politics, but she didn't see it that way. Her interests were with the people. Not just the people around her, but all the people. The people within her own state and country, as well as those abroad. Every human on earth was in her eyes, precious. She'd briefly considered taking a gap year and travel to some third world country, helping whoever needed helping. Thankfully, her school's advisor had managed to convince her that she'd be able to help more people when utilizing her strengths. Anybody can travel to a country in Africa and hand out soup, but only a handful of people can analyze and solve complex socioeconomic problems at a global scale.
All this begs the question; Why would a girl of such seemingly high caliber ever need self improvement hypnosis?
Well, a number of reasons came to mind. Rachael spent a lot of time in her own "cloud" so to speak. Her mind often wandered to her studies, even when around friends. Despite being overwhelmingly intelligent, she might come across as absent minded and at times ditzy. Not because she lacks focus, quite the opposite. She simply chose to use that razor sharp focus on things people often didn't get. This had the unfortunate consequence of making it hard for her to make friends. Her closest friend, and quite possibly her only friend, Rebecca often said that she ought to pay more attention to the people around her, or else she'll risk ending up alone. Rachael had a hard time taking the well intending words to heart, and kept up her dismissive and distant behavior. If there was one thing she wanted more than anything, it would be the ability to take other peoples opinions and meanings more seriously. They were after all the very people she so desperately wanted to make a better life for, even if she had a hard time showing that she cared.
Scrolling down the list of options for self improvement, she came across a file which offered just that, the ability to pay more attention to others and what they say. Eerie how something so convenient could present itself like that..
The only option Rachael had for listening to the file would be her now severely outdated Koss headphones. They didn't look good, nor could they compete with the noise-cancelling headphones of today. The quality wasn't impressive either, but that didn't matter to someone who rarely listened to music anyway. Rachael would much rather be alone with her thoughts, relishing at every opportunity to reflect on things when others might resort to podcasts and shitty pop with no character or soul.
To self improvement I guess..
With her headphones on, audio file on the ready and fresh sheets on her bed, Rachael looked forward to a refreshing, self improving night's sleep.
