By Melina Filippidou

You know these jokes that you don’t quite get the moment you hear them, but then, later on, it hits you and you actually understand why they’re funny? I’ve been in this school for three months already, but I just started getting the joke now. And it’s a pretty good one.

Since day one I’ve been filling my notebooks with tips, advice and formulas from great professionals, most of whom are willing to be questioned and challenged- which makes them great people as well. I kept writing down everything to a point that I got lost in my own notes. Be this, do that, eat the frog and chop the elephant. I wasn’t sure I knew how these tips could be practically applied or how I could use them for my benefit. They seemed like words made of glass, profound but fragile.

I felt a bit guilty and in a way stupid because I could not take full advantage of the opportunity, let alone the fact that everyone else seemed to be in a different place than me. But I was closer to that place than I thought. Within a few weeks, almost all of my glassy notes would come to find me the moments I needed them the most.

The first hint was the Friday we visited Havas. Marc’s speech was a turning point for me because it made me realize the identity of the school and I knew that now I could show mine too. If you’re thinking I’m late to the party, you’re probably right. But I can easily catch up. The next days after Havas, almost every time I was struggling with a problem, brief or grief, in or out of SCA, my notes came alive and helped me see the answers I was looking for.

I don’t know whether they were the right answers, I don’t even know if it’s supposed to work that way. All I know is that we don’t give our mind enough credits. Every time it’s exposed to new information our brain stores anything it needs and discards the rest of it. So when a problem appears, our mental notebook can provide us with a wide range of potential solutions. Writing down things is not about filling papers, is about filling the brain.

There are a lot of jokes I haven’t got yet these three months, but I’m not worried anymore. It’s a matter of time and focus. I’m just looking forward to the next small thing I’ve noted down to become big once put into context. I’m looking forward to the next laugh.