Nishtha Gehija

Start with writing badly.

Writing has helped me so much.

To help me find my new career.
To help me gain clarity in the messes of life.
To help me think more deeply.
To help me get answers when I didn’t have any.
To help me gain some likes here and there on social media.

And off late, it has also helped me to stay focused when my life is breaking apart.

To be honest, nothing has happened. Just that some unhealed wounds popped up. Wounds from no one other than me. Wounds that no one can heal other than me. Wounds that would not have been wounds, had I stayed true to myself.

So here I am, staying true to myself. By writing daily. And breathing life into my words. Which really breathe life into me.

I saw someone more successful than me. And felt bad.

The question is: Even if I work superhard and get “more” successful than them, won’t someone else always be more successful than me?

Do not strive to be more successful than anyone else, Nishtha.
Strive to be more satisfied than who you were yesterday.

Success will come automatically. And won’t make you feel hollow.

In the February of this year, I had a fallout with a friend.
For a friendship that was already broken.
But some things concluded that day.
In a bad and dirty manner.
Something that I hadn’t wanted. Ever. I guess that was the truth from the other side as well.

Some repercussions of that was also the fact that that exit of friendship also took away many more friendships.
I was just looking at an activity we did in December together and all of that love seems so alien today.

However, what is a post on LinkedIn if it does not have lessons for life? 🙂

Here are mine:
1. Some people will remain the way they are. It is not wrong according to them. All you have to know is that what is right for them and what is right for you will be different.

2. If someone truly trusts you, they will be there for you despite the differences. Sometimes people move on without having a conversation but having a conversation with you politically. All you can do is smile, and move on.

3. It all boils down to having a strong sense of self-worth. If you are strong from within, there will be times when you will be left only with yourself. If you know you didn’t wake up one fine morning to screw someone’s life, you will be proud of being left alone.

Few days back when KK passed away, we all saw the amount of love pouring on him. It made me wonder, why does love pour in after death? Why doesn’t it pour in when there is life still?

Answer: To live life without some answers, is the best answer 🙂

PS: Posting this in Aug 2023 btw.

We have 100 days left in 2022.

We humans otherwise have divided consensus on almost everything in life, however, what we all will collectively agree with is that 2022 passed away real real quick. Quicker than all previous years combined.

And for whatever reason, new years do not excite me enough to gather the opportunity to set new goals – it is like trapping your mind into becoming something different just because your fingers will now write a different date.

All these hopes don’t work!

So, starting today, I’m going to write for 90 minutes straight every morning.
For the rest of 2022.
Let’s use 2022 to be more powerful, get more clarity in mind, and also, land up into some new amazing projects 🙂

These 100 days are also going to be the strongest resistance because:

• Diwali month and shopping
• Navratri and chana puri
• Travel (I have 4-5 days planned, not much, thankfully)
• Visiting home
• Sleeping late on one night of Diwali
• Existing politicians in life that wake up time and again
• Work commitments because I am a good person and employee 🙂
• Not sleeping well
• Winters shouting out loud to get into the blanket
• Perhaps even winning my dream project so that I have “legit reasons” to procrastinate.

But no. No. Oh no no no no no!

I will also document it in my blog daily – either as an update at the end of the blog, or a standalone blog if I have something huge to share.

Okay then, it just took me 8 minutes to write this (including taking 1.5 minute to pee)! And I think I have already written a lot. Imagine what 9000 minutes of writing (100 days X 90 minutes) is going to do.

Already excited 🙂

PS: If you also want to get on a ride like this, send me an email or DM me on Twitter (@nishthagehija26) and we’ll be accountability buddies 🙂

PS2: If you think you will lose motivation along the way, go to seths.blog and pick up a random blog to read. You’ll be back to taking action. Ok then, see you tomorrow! I gotta write!

Love in the sense of romantic love is the lowest downgraded form of love.

Do you know what true love can do?

• It can make friends text you back, despite not being in touch due to mutual differences.
• It can make colleagues make impossible possible for you, because you don’t want to extract the worst out of them.
• It can make colleagues your friends, because you truly care for them!
• It can make friends get out of their way of strict schedule, because you need them.
• It can make landlords and tenants live on a parent-child relationship.
• It can make people not only give up on their dreams, rather pursue yours along with you because you truly care.

Love is the most insensitive thing if you think of getting a partner.

Love is the most powerful force on the planet if you are filled with love. Because then, whosoever comes in touch with you, gets exactly that.

What is your definition of no?

For some, it is no to phone after 8 pm.

For some, it is no to Instagram from their phone.

For some, it is choosing to have a different phone altogether for family and friends, so that no one else can reach them.

You choose your definition of no. And stick to it. Because if you don’t, you have no right to ask others to stick to it.

You show others, how to treat you, said Oprah. Never not a wise word from her 🙂

Don’t be too available.

Or too wanna be kind when you don’t mean it.

Or too happily pretentious when you aren’t.

Sometimes, strength is in not being available. Sometimes, strength is knowing your strength.

Over time, I have figured that it is not the best thing to suppress what you are feeling.

However, if what you are feeling is unpleasant, it is not the best thing for anyone to hear as well.

Then, what is the solution?

The solution is to journal. Let it all out. And then learn lessons from it, to act better the next time.

This way, you are dealing with your thoughts instead of suppressing them. And also making a mechanism to act better. Win-win.

The days are difficult.
Followed by difficult weeks.
Followed by difficult months.

And if you want to change your life, do not attempt at changing them altogether. It will only lead you to misery.

Rather, go ahead and change one part of your day. And stay relentlessly committed to it.
And then the other. And then the next.

Quicker than you know, you would have changed all the parts of you that were not who you are.

That is the beauty of difficult days. They reveal to you what doesn’t need to be there. So that it finally leaves.

I was listening to a Seth Godin podcast one evening, while walking in a park in my hometown in Kota.

In response to a question (that I don’t remember), he answered that everyone must blog daily, even if anonymously.

I took that to heart.
And took on the mammoth task of blogging daily.
Till date, this is the place that gets the minimum views, of anything that I post online. However, this is the place that has always been my anchor, over the years, to continue with my writing practice.

It has lead me to ghostwriting books, changing my career to full-time writing, making more than my peers (no it doesn’t matter), has fulfilled my dreams that I didn’t even see – just because I stayed true to it, without having to report to anyone.

Good advice changes your life.
The best part about good advice?
It is everywhere.
You just need to act.
Today.

It’s late already, but I gotta write.
Everyone’s an influencer already, but I gotta write.
Everyone seems sorted already, and hence, I gotta write.

It is going to be difficult.
Very difficult.

The most difficult thing in the world is not to make money.
The most difficult thing in the world is to do the difficult thing that your heart wants to, despite you know it is not going to make you money eventually, rather, way more than you imagined.

How much scrolling the social media is enough?
How much of wasting time is allowed?
For how long are you allowed to give more than is “right” and wait for things to turn your way?

The reality is, anything that is breached, is breached.

I think about this often.

I am someone who lives a wonderfully disciplined life. All of it, by choice.
There is no one forcing me to do things a certain way or live a certain way.
As a matter of fact, I have all the freedom to be as spoilt as I could, without anyone even coming to know about it.

But being spoilt is the worst thing you could do to yourself.
Imagine all the effort you have to take in getting out of hangovers, feeling bad on spilled milk, wasting money on food and drinks outside, and also saying things you didn’t intend do, yet wanted to say.

Discipline is easy.
Because it requires the least amount of effort.

Every action of being spoilt is what it does to you: spoil you.

Why would you want to do that?
How much is enough?
Why do we have to have an upper limit for wrong?

With WhatsApp introducing “reactions” to someone else’s message, we now have a beautiful foray into ending a chat where we don’t have anything more to contribute.

But here is more interesting about that feature:

• When someone “reacts” to your message, you do not have to go open that chat to see if they have reacted or not. You can see it from the outside as well. WhatsApp understood the human need for validation, and thus, came up with this really “check-that-they-have-reacted-from-outside-itself” instead of checking it over and over again.
• This enhances in User-experience in group chats. In group chats, only if someone has reacted to the message I sent, will be shown on the outside of the chat. If A and B have reacted to each other’s messages and I had no part to play in them, I won’t be shown those reactions. Isn’t that so beautiful to think about me? Oh yes, A and B would certainly be able to see that outside of the group chats for themselves. Their dose of validation still continues.

I am usually not a big fan of technology, however, this was deep thoughtfulness into human psychology deployed by the coders of WhatsApp, and they deserve an ovation for that!

I really don’t know how people with hangover from alcohol get over it.

For me, I was hung over from the fun of the last offsite (it was great, but it was so hangover-seducing as well), that I am sleeping a lot!!

Anyway, hence proved, that staying in senses >>>

I recently spent time with an old friend in September, after them not actively talking to me for almost 9 months.

Here is what I learnt: It is good to be away forever 🙂

Someone shared a huge life problem they were going through, recently.

Not that they shared, rather it was too evident on their face.

Which was in the middle of living their best life right now while travelling.

What it made me think was:

• You can go travel the world and “live your best life” on Instagram
• But what happens in your mind stays unhealed, if you don’t heal it
• Because everywhere you go, you take yourself with you

Travelling isn’t the problem. But not healing yourself to let what someone else did to reflect on your face, shows that the travel that you think will solve your problems – won’t. Unless you make it a priority to travel within.

Inside is the new in-thing! Where no one will take you, other than you. 🙂

I just got a new cycle. Vlog here 🙂

And then the next thing I had to figure out was how to have pump at my disposal. Also, since I have gotten a gift of basketball and there is a stadium next to my home, that was also a thing to have.

So, I wrote to a CEO of a good startup, asking his advice for telling me which pump to buy! Not because he is a CEO, rather because he posts a lot of content of his cycling journeys, and is indeed a pro.

So why not seek help from the best?

Of course he replied with an Amazon link, which is what I had asked for 🙂

Weirdness is the new cool, isn’t it? :))

You will be reeling under a lot of pressure.

Lots of hurt. Lots of stones being thrown at you. Everyone (including the ones you count on) will make sure to only prove their point.

Make it stop at you.
Do not transfer it.
Deal with it.
Talk to those who give it to you.
If you can’t talk, figure a way out of that pressure.

But don’t transfer it. Don’t. Please.

It is okay to apologise to someone if it makes them feel better, and they want it, and it is going to heal a relationship.

The ones who bend, are the ones who go underneath and emerge as strong trees.