Yanwen’s blog

I've been taking notes as I read, but for now, I'd like to share one idea that immediately caught my attention.

The book emphasizes neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to change and adapt throughout life. This concept is not new to us anymore. But the authors also introduce an interesting psychological term: eustress, or positive stress. Unlike harmful stress, eustress can motivate us, improve our performance, and encourage personal growth.

A life without any challenges may seem comfortable, but too much comfort can make us mentally passive. Our brains need stimulation, not just relaxation.

This reminds me of Nietzsche's famous words: "What does not kill me makes me stronger."

When it comes to healthy brain aging, the book recommends not only a healthy diet, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep, but also what it calls cognitive anti-habit training.

My understanding is that we should deliberately break some of our routines and challenge ourselves to do things differently. For example:

• Avoid always taking the same familiar routes.

• Deliberately use your non-dominant hand—for example, your left hand if you are right-handed.

• Read books on subjects you normally wouldn't choose.

• Engage in conversations with people whose opinions differ from yours.

• Learn a foreign language or take up a musical instrument.

These activities may feel awkward, unfamiliar, or even frustrating at first. But that is part of the point. When we step outside our usual routines and make an effort to learn something new, we give our brains opportunities to adapt and develop.

This idea particularly resonates with me because it reminds me of my own experience learning to play the piano. There were moments when I felt so frustrated that I was tempted to give up. My fingers wouldn't cooperate, I couldn't get the notes right, and progress seemed painfully slow.

But now, knowing that my brain is growing, I feel differently. Those frustrating moments were signs that I was challenging my brain to learn something new. The struggle is part of the growth.

By contrast, when everything becomes too familiar and effortless, we may simply be repeating what we already know rather than developing new abilities.

Another point the book makes is the importance of avoiding too much passive entertainment, such as binge-watching short videos. Instead of allowing information to flow endlessly into our brains, we should make an effort to process it, question it, and do something with it.

The opposite of passive consumption is active engagement: writing, lecturing, teaching, discussing, debating, and creating. These activities require us to organize our thoughts, retrieve information, form opinions, and express ourselves.

Modern technology has made our lives more convenient and comfortable than ever. But we should be careful not to let convenience turn us into passive consumers or comfort keep us from challenging ourselves.

It may sound extreme to say that convenience is a trap and comfort is poison. But it is not far from the truth.

More thoughts to come...

In China, there is a high-stakes professional cooking competition show produced by Tencent Video, first aired in July 2025. It is called 一饭封神 (Yī Fàn Fēng Shén) One Dish to Glory or win legendary status with a single dish.

100 chefs compete in it. The challengers face tight time limits, surprise ingredient tests, blind challenges. The championship prize and title is “Kitchen God (厨神).”

Qu Yuyu was the champion on season 1. She was the first female winner and youngest champion of the show, winning in September 2025 with an all-egg final challenge.

I write this not because she is the youngest champion or the first woman to win the competition, but because she has found her own path to success without following the conventional route.

In China, many young people grow up believing that the most reliable path to a bright future is to study hard, pass the national college entrance examination, and enter a good university. Academic achievement is often regarded as the foundation of all.

Qu Yuyu's story offers a different path.

She did not follow that route. Instead, she chose to pursue something she genuinely loved: cooking.

At 17, she enrolled in a culinary vocational school in Guangzhou and studied there for just nine months. She then entered the working world, where she learned through practice, observation, and experience.

Her early career was not easy. She was often assigned to the cold kitchen, while the hot kitchen—the place where she really wanted to work—was largely dominated by men. When an opportunity finally appeared, it went to a newly hired male chef.

But she did not give up. She stayed after work to help in the hot kitchen, volunteered to do preparation work, and continued looking for opportunities to learn.

What Her Story Means to Me

What impresses me most about Qu Yuyu is how she won a national cooking competition at the age of 30.

No conventional academic credentials that many people in China consider essential for success, she had something more important: a willingness to learn, the courage to go her own path, and the determination to make the most of every opportunity.

Her story reminds me of the saying: 条条大路通罗马。Tiáo tiáo dà lù tōng Luómǎ. All roads lead to Rome.

There is more than one way to reach a meaningful destination in life. A university degree can open doors, but it is not the only path to knowledge, professional achievement, or personal fulfillment.

More importantly, Qu Yuyu's experience also reminds me that learning does not end when we leave school. Sometimes, the most important lessons come from our workplace and our experiences, from the people around us, from mistakes, and from opportunities we choose to seize.

I hope my children will understand that their educational background or the path they choose at an early age does not have to define their future.

All roads lead to Rome—but whichever road we take, we must keep learning along the way.

Forty-two years later, on November 7, 2026, 中国第 43 次南极科考队起航 (zhōng guó dì sì shí sān cì nán jí kē kǎo duì qǐ háng), China's 43rd Antarctic research expedition departed from Sanya, Hainan, heading south for months of fieldwork on the frozen continent. The fleet includes Xuelong 2, China's domestically built polar research icebreaker. 

The expedition has an ambitious scientific agenda. Researchers will study Antarctic ice and ocean conditions, monitor marine ecosystems, maintain and upgrade China's existing research stations, and test new equipment designed for the extreme polar environment.

One important goal is to collect climate data. Antarctica holds valuable records of Earth's climate history, and changes in its ice sheets can affect global sea levels. The team will also conduct astronomical and geophysical observations in one of the world's most remote environments.

The journey is expected to last about five months, with the team scheduled to return in April 2027. This expedition represents another step in China's long-term polar research program and contributes to international efforts to better understand climate change and the Antarctic environment.

This is not just a story about China's Antarctic expedition. It is also a story about curiosity, perseverance, international cooperation, and our responsibility to understand the world we share.

1. Curiosity: The world is much bigger than our everyday lives

Antarctica is far removed from our daily lives, yet its ice, oceans, and climate are connected to the rest of the world. What happens there can affect people living thousands of miles away.

This tells me that the world is full of questions worth exploring, even in places we may never visit. We do not have to experience everything firsthand to develop an interest in it or learn something valuable from it.

I hope my children will remain curious about things beyond their immediate surroundings. There is always something new to discover, and curiosity is often the beginning of learning.

2. Perseverance: Important work requires patience and continuity

Meaningful achievements rarely happen overnight. They often require years of effort, repeated attempts, and the willingness to build on what others have accomplished.

China's Antarctic research program began in 1984. Forty-two years later, scientists are still returning to the continent, asking new questions and continuing work begun by earlier generations.

Each expedition builds on previous research. What one generation discovers becomes a foundation for the next.

3. International cooperation: Science goes beyond national boundaries

What is especially meaningful about this expedition is its international cooperation.

Scientists from different countries may have different backgrounds, work for different institutions, and come from different cultures. Yet they can share a common interest in understanding our planet.

Climate change is not a problem that any one country can fully understand or solve on its own. Studying the Antarctic environment requires observations, knowledge, and cooperation from scientists around the world.

We can have different backgrounds and perspectives while still working toward a common goal.

I hope my children will understand the importance of looking beyond national and cultural differences and learning from people whose experiences may be different from their own.

4. Responsibility: What we learn should help us understand and protect the world

Learning about our planet helps us understand how our actions affect the environment and why protecting it matters.

The more scientists learn about Antarctica, the better we may understand changes in the Earth's climate and the challenges facing future generations.

I hope my children will see learning not only as a way to improve themselves or achieve personal success, but also as a way to understand the consequences of our actions and contribute to the world around them.

Finally,

Reading about China's 43rd Antarctic expedition makes me think about how much of the world remains beyond our everyday experience.

We may never travel to Antarctica, but we can still learn from the people who go there and the questions they are trying to answer.

Most importantly, I hope my children and grandchildren realize that learning is not only about improving ourselves or achieving personal success. It is also about understanding the world we share and finding ways to contribute to it.

The world is much larger than our immediate surroundings. The more we learn about it, the more we realize how much we still have to discover—and how much we can accomplish when we work together.