Get in emotional action. Own your life, and inspire others to do the same.
A colleague mentioned this term in a group, when he spoke about being away from his girlfriend.
Such word even exists?
Do people actually miss each other on being separate?
Isn’t love supposed to liberate you instead of give you anxiety?
Anyway, the only emotion I have, is gratitude – for going past such petty things.
That’s what I bless for my colleague as well. And everyone.
Even though you love your work,
Even though you feel energised,
Even though your boss is super-supportive by not micromanaging you
You must take an off on the weekends and on the festivals.
Because things that are meant to be enjoyed and relished are the things that are meant to be enjoyed and relished.
There is no substitute to not spending time with yourself and reflecting, because only in emptiness you get to understand yourself.
Which makes you all the more productive when you return to work.
1. Never touch their nerves. Just listen.
2. Do your own thing. Even if they aren’t happy, you can never make anyone happy if you aren’t.
3. Don’t tell them your struggles. While you will move on, they will stay married to it.
Though most people won’t agree to it, if their parents won’t see them, they would still be agreeing to it.
Earlier this month my father completed 40 years of his shop.
He’s 67, and had already worked in multiple “jobs”, before “starting on his own”. Here’s a journey of his work, starting from age 6!
1. Worked for FREE in a bakery at the age of 6, used to get crushed powder of toasts as daily “stipend”
2. Worked at two general stores in later summer vacations at school.
He was so much into cleanliness that once the shop owner’s bag of cash fell off from a higher shelf!
Guess what, my father had such a repute of honesty that the shopkeeper never changed its place!
3. Worked at a readymade garments shop as he “grew up” 🙂
4. Worked at a crockery of a relative, created a huge repute and profit for them, however, later the relative had to sell it off due to financial crunch
5. Worked as a typist at the age of 18, at one of the reputed shops in our city
6. Got placed at a factory by his employer, where he almost died by sinking in a pit while riding his cycle back home, and “someone magically appeared from nowhere” and saved him! Yes, he and a friend went to search for cycle the next day and got it 🙂
7. He found refute that day at a nearby factory, which later hired him. That factory was JK Paper Mills. He was even hired by DCM, Waterworks, and all the factories but he was underage!
8. Along with working at JK, he opened his shop on 05 August 1981. Used to work there in the mornings and nights.
9. Quit his job in October 1982, while his kids were 3 and 4 respectively. Talk risk!!
10. When he started, his shop was in a narrow street. His Uncle, in 1983, suggested to buy one of the new shops coming up at the main road. He didn’t have the deposit money. The bakery shop owner, with whom my father used to work “for free”, lent him the advance deposit. Till date, our shop is exactly at the same place.
11. Not to mention, he also used to do “flipping” by getting socks, watches from Delhi and selling them in our home town in Kota. However, he felt he wasn’t playing it ethical by showing a low-quality item as shiny and that was unfair to customers’ money.
Last year, as I was freelancing, I had once suddenly lost a high-ticket client. One morning I was sitting in my room and thinking, I saw my father doing his prayer rituals as usual.
He was as tensionless, as free and as “let life come as it wants to” attitude on his face.
If 40 years of business could keep him tension free, I had no right to get tensed that day.
That day, my father gave me hope.
Today as I asked him this entire story, he gave me the power of resilience.
And every day, he gives me the power of love by getting apples / mangoes for me (instead of bakery stuff that both my parents love :D)
We are not the best of friends, but he accepts me when I’m doing a headstand in the middle of the room, and I accept him when he “turns on auto-download” of WhatsApp forwarded pics, and together, we all are imperfectly perfect!
Just as we should be 🙂
Last Sunday, we had a blast on Father’s Day. Nothing “special”. Just that since it was Sunday, I took my Kindle and sat in the living room, instead of sneaking into my room.
Had life conversations with my parents.
Got to know that my father’s first internship started at age 6.
Learnt the immense power of putting your head down and doing the work, even when you are not being paid.
And more than anything else, got the immense power of learning to spend some time together with family. Not everyday religiously, but at least consistently :))
Sometimes all I have is sympathy for our parents’ generation.
Their parents saw the partition of the nation – leaving their country, their childhood, all that they called “theirs”, to come to another place just to survive.
In this need for survival, was the generation of our parents born.
Thus, the upbringing they got was of stress, not having enough time, and always lack of means.
Which is why our parents are the way they are.
They have been conditioned so.
They were never taught to love.
Perhaps because they were never loved.
And then one fine day, we pop up and expect them to be cool because that is what we are surrounded by – cool kids just like us.
Now that we know, we can still do what we want to do, while being respectful of who they are. It isn’t just for them, it is for the acknowledgement of how much they are trying to adapt, because they care for you:)
Couple of days back, I had an inpromptu plan to visit Delhi, where I live. (PS: I am in the last month of my stay at my hometown these days :D)
When I called up my landlord a day prior to my reach, he and Aunty were in Simla, for a short break.
Yet, here’s what Uncle arranged to do for me:
– Asked his brother in law to come home and take out my room’s keys to the kitchen, which was being used by the servant.
– Told the servant to clean my room
– Told the servant to make sure he opens up the main gate, as I wasn’t having the keys
All this, while vacationing.
They didn’t have to do that, yet they did. As a matter of fact, upon reaching my apartment, I texted Uncle instead of calling him so as to not to disturb them, thanking for everything. He replied with taking the help of the servant, if I needed anything.
Just wow!
But why are we talking about it?
Because in a lot of homes, it is considered taboo to get out of your way to help anyone in family, let alone tenants.
In a sad culture that has been instilled, it is thought that if someone is helping us, it should be with some ulterior motive.
And if that was not enough, kids are taught that they should never talk to strangers, let alone help them.
No wonder why that generation has grown up to become mentally ill generation.
That said, if you are able to read this, you have the power to parent yourself. What our parents and our culture did to us is bad, however, if we replicate that to ourselves, nothing could be worse.
So, help others out. It will not be a disturbance on your Simla vacation. Be the one who is a giver, and EVERYTHING else in life, will be well taken care of.
It is said that people blame their parents for their less than normal childhood.
That isn’t true.
They are just trying to understand how our immediate environment shapes our lives. And then take the charge to change it. And that’s precious.