Between the years 1665 and 1666, while the Black Death was managing to wipe out a third of Europe, Isaac Newton decided to hide away and invented calculus.
Even then, there was an idea of "social distancing" when students and workers would be sent home to continue their studies. One would think that without his Cambridge-professors' guidance, Newton would have been helplessly sitting around eating the apples that fell from his neighborhood apple tree instead of utilizing the falling apples as evidence for his theory of gravity.
"Newton returned home. He built bookshelves and made a study for himself…..He set himself problems; considered them obsessively; calculated answers; and asked new questions. …The plague year was his transfiguration. Solitary and almost incommunicado, he became the world’s paramount mathematician."
Thanks to the papers he finished writing for his school assignments at Cambridge, high school students now have the pleasure of suffering through calculus classes... (This is not hating, I love my calculus teacher).
And furthermore, while he could have continued to make pretty rainbows with a couple of his prisms, he instead formed and wrote about his theory of optics alone in his dark, gloomy study.
After his arrival back to Cambridge with his collection of theories, he was named a university fellow (a member of the school governing body) and soon after, a professor.
That being said, this whole social distancing idea SUCKS... but is also quite effective. Since there is no way around it, why not make the best out of it?
I will admit that I have already been starting to feel a little down and being an extrovert shut inside all day has proven to be a lot more difficult than I expected.
If we take the time we have, we don't need to form any ground-breaking theories or figure out how to change the world. Me? I'm taking this time to learn how to braid my hair (I am currently failing) and trying to get more on top of this blog.
My theory on happiness and self-fulfillment (as written about in other blog posts) stays the same. Do something. Take this time to make some lists, learn new things, and do everything that you've always said you'll do if you had more time. Because guess what?? You've got your wish!
Wishing everyone the absolute best during these strange times and hoping Isaac Newton's story may add a spark of inspiration to your lives.
As always,
Stay Happy!
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