Interview
What is your full name? My full name is [Your Name]. It holds deep personal and cultural meaning for my family, and I am honestly proud to carry it at all times during my life.
May I see your ID? Of course, here it is. Check out my work, if you want!
Where are you from? I’m originally from [Your City/Country]. The city is very colorful, culturally rich and has greatly impacted my values, views on life, and sense of identity.
Do you work or study? I am pursuing a lot more information on [Your Field] right now at College. It is a very challenging but satisfying subject of study, and I believe I am getting more and more interested in both its concepts and implementation.
What is your favourite place to sit? I have a favourite sitting spot; an armchair next to my study window, where the light is good, as is the view over the street below and most importantly it close enough to bookshelf that I consider it as the natural centre of anything intellectual I do at home. There is something about this particular combination of light, comfort and nearness to books that consistently makes the place I think side by side with clarity, read with intensity.
Are you sitting for an extended period of time each time? But not in such a routine — I have started to be more aware of health risks associated with prolonged inactivity and there make an effort to break long periods of sitting with activity. Whenever I have long study sessions, I set a reminder to stand once every 45 minutes (to an hour), stretch or take a short walk. Then again, if I am really into something — a gripping read or a piece of writing that is working by itself and takes me along with it — these intentions can vanish completely, and I will have sat far longer than intended.
Are you feeling sleepy when sitting down? Yes, but only sometimes — especially in the early afternoon when the body’s natural circadian rhythm results in a slight decrease of alertness that is intensified with comfortable sitting. I learnt to identify when this pattern arises — and instead of doggedly bolting through with decreasing focus, taking a short walk, drinking a glass of water or sometimes even allowing myself a tiny rest is much more helpful for the required work ahead than resisting what is essentially my interior chronobiology.
Did you use to sit on the floor as a kid? Yes, quite commonly. Floor sitting was simply the natural default, for numerous activities from my childhood — playing with toys, drawing, reading picture books, watching television were all activities I often partook of whilst on the floor without any particular awareness that this was strange or humiliating. For floor sitting, everything in childhood was flexible and supportive: the children’s developing joints with their low centre of gravity provided a way that would not roll away quite so easily at any time adult habits had it.