A caveman coming out of a cave

Every man is said to need a caveman time every now and then. Although it may not apply to everyone, at least it has been true for me ever since my 2nd year at MIT.

Then, what is the significance of a cave?

Foremost, a cave provides a shelter from an outside world, limiting access to social activities and mingling with outside forces. By separating yourself from everyone else, you can finally have some time of your own despite limited food sources and friends. I would say it is ironic that a human being who is often called a social animal would require such time away from socializing, and it almost seems counter intuitive, but we all know we've been there and done that. The time you spend in your cave is your time to regroup and recharge yourself, reprioritizing your given tasks and it is often considered a 'catch-up' session, where you would work on any hidden projects that were supposedly done or work on the art of napping while doing absolutely nothing else.

You cannot be disturbed nor bothered. And if you are, then this caveman time will be in vain.
Often the cave would be extremely disorganized with half-eaten animal bones, and it would often also smell a bit funky from half decomposed food all over the cave.
Caveman time is indispensable, yet it is self-destructible. The more you spend time in your cave, the more you would feel at home and relaxed, releasing all the stress, but often times all that stress will come back doubled in size when you step out of the cave, if the caveman time is not well spent.

Interestingly, we find ourselves silently screaming from the side effects of the caveman time, as the time to leave the cave (often forcibly) approaches, which certainly always comes.

Today Mr. Martin mentioned something that we all know and acknowledge yet often fail to execute.

1. A successful caveman who spends his time wisely in the cave, takes a shower. The earlier you do this after you enter the cave, the earlier you will get out of the cave, and truly serve the time well while inside the cave. I say this is in the same line as '의상심리,' which basically says...you are manipulating your mind by changing your physical appearance. As it is the defining feature of a caveman to have unshaven hair and stinky body, by removing the dirt out of your body as well as facial hair, you are forcing yourself to be a homosapiens sapiens, and not a Neanderthal, or worse- Australopithecus.

2. A ready-to-be-homosapiens-sapiens caveman will always tidy things up in the cave. This, I would say, is in the same line as '맹모삼천지교,' which basically implies..you need to change your surroundings/environment in order to have your priorities right. Messy cave creates a messy mind, and perhaps it also contributes your overall attitude of a man who has overflowing energy to take care of himself and also help others.

These two things mentioned above are already so difficult to achieve, and if you could force yourself to do these things, your cave time wouldn't be considered wasted already. It is tiring to clean up the cave, and it does take your will power away from doing other things as it consumes most of your energy to take care of all the mess that you created.

However, an ideal caveman - whom at this point I am tempted to call a non-caveman who just visited an old cave simply to get himself level with the rest of the caveman world - would NOT stop at this point, and actually do his unfinished projects. He is a new born man who can take onto him the whole world's problems, while he will carry a constant smile, saving the world.