You cannot survive without basic survival needs. This is scientifically accurate based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The bottom has your most basic needs, and the top is more of the needs you need to grow as a person. The first level on the bottom is psychological needs.

I believe that self-care and mental stability are more important than any other hobbies or activities in your life. Making sure you are stable enough within your mind and body is more important than grades, sports, and relationships with other people. Without a solid foundation, your structure will be destined to fall. To avoid such occurrences, you must take time to build that basic foundation and maintain it, or it will fall. Hard.

This is shown in schools now. It took me seventeen years to realize that I would rather have an assignment be a few days late than to jeopardize my wellbeing, it is not worth it. Certain levels of stress are expected from school, but when you are losing sleep, not showering, not doing the things that make you happy, and when you stop taking care of those basic needs, I would rather get a B on an assignment.

An extreme example of this is seen in my own favorite Italian poet, Cesare Pavese. He had a passion for American Literature ever since high school, and wanted to focus on that for the rest of his life. But as a child, his dad had died from a brain tumor when he was ten, and his mother was absent for the majority of his childhood. This caused Pavese to feel isolated not just as a kid, but as an adult. He was often censored by Italian fasicm, causing him to feel more silenced than before. He didn’t know how to form connections or handle certain situations with loved ones, and never attempted to heal such trauma. He was in two long-term relationships, and after the second one failed with Constance Dowling, he was found dead in his hotel room with a fatal amount of sleeping pills. “The art of living is the art of knowing how to believe lies” -Cesare Pavese. 

Now this, I believe.