If no one told this to you, here it is…

1. You are doing your best. Stop beating yourself up.

2. You have a lot of power. You just need to check the leakage.

3. It takes a strong human being to always be looking for good. Be that tough human being.

4. Talk to yourself. Your need to scroll Instagram would vanish.

5. To walk your own path requires courage. It isn’t disrespectful of anyone, as long as you are not disrespecting them.

6. To stay silent in a throng of un-wise words is a measure of immense inner power.

7. To speak your truth even when your voice shakes is being powerful (again).

8. Standing for yourself isn’t selfish.

9. Being there to understand is a mark of an understanding human being.

10. It is very very easy to get caught up in the celebrity and blitz of the world, share the photographs of “your perfect world” and the new things you bought. If you do not use social media to generate this triviality in others nor to consume it yourself, you’re already ahead of the majority of the world.

Small reminders. Small life. Make your time worth it! 😇

Dealing with mental health issues

With the mental health issues going to peak ten days back, I deliberately started taking extra care of myself.

Here’s what I realised:

  • At the core of every mental health issue, is the need for happiness.
  • When I didn’t get it, I felt a chaos in my mind.
  • I almost (read: always) believed that if I am good to everyone, they should also be good to me. Unmindful of the fact, that everyone is going through the chaos in their minds as well (including our families)
  • Taking care of yourself is something you will have to do. Otherwise we will always be dependent on the mood swings of others – and that is never a balanced place to settle on.
  • Being happy is NOT a sin. Okay? Read it again if it was not clear to you.

Here’s what I have started doing now:

  • Given up the need to impress everyone and make them happy. I have realised that even if I am happy and doing things to make them happy, if someone makes a conscious or unconscious choice to be upset, they will. Don’t take anyone personally.
  • Love yourself like that is your job#1. For most people, this job even doesn’t make it to the list of their jobs.
  • Stop justifying your actions all the time. I do not give a damn to what anyone else says yet don’t know how during this lockdown I started craving for the validation of my family. If you feel truthful and real in your work, you have done your job well. Anything and anyone that takes you away from peace is the one worth going away from.
  • Imagine the best outcome. We all are the creators of our experiences. What we are today, is what we had imagined yesterday.
  • This one is important. Treat people well even if you don’t listen to them or you know they are toxic. They are being them, and for whatever little time they get to hang around you, make sure to be kind to them. They are fighting a tough battle. Just like I needed people with my mental health issues, I realised they will also need kind people so that mental health issues don’t sink into them.

The journey is hard. Only if I label it so. Remember – creators of our experiences? Now I have unabashedly started living for my own happiness – without hurting others, however, not allowing anyone to enter that bubble and burst it.

Question?

Either you do something good or bad, there will be people questioning you.

Just make sure you don’t question yourself.

That doesn’t mean not making the mistakes, it rather means not owning your life.

Own your life.

Don’t question yourself at the end of it that why you gave up.

New people

Met incredible people. Or met people that drained your energy.

Though both of these are good, what is great is how much time you spent with yourself alone.

If not, then whatever we do is going to be a replica of the world, not an originality.

Taare Zameen Par

Jab bhi kabhi

Papa mujhe

Jo zor se

Jhula jhulaate hain Maa

(Ab Papa jhula to nahi jhulate par metaphorical jhula jhulate hain)

Meri nazar

Dhundhe tujhe

Sochu yehi

Tu aake thaamegi Maa…

Unse main yeh kehta nahi

Par sehem jaata hu main Maa

(Shayad Maa bhi sehmi hui hai)

Chehre pe aane deta nahi

Dil hi dil mein ghabraata hu Maa

Tujhe sab hai pata

Hai na Maa

Tujhe sab hai pataaaa

Meri Maa ❣️

That little tinge of kindness

August 2017.
It was a usual day at work.
I went to the Operations Head, asking to share the records and documents needed for my work.

Back then, I used to work as an Internal Auditor, and the core job was visiting branches and conducting audits, with the help of branch operations team.

This fine day, as I was going back to my desk after talking with the Operations Head, when she called my name and said, “You always look stunning!”

And it took a moment for my mask of “follow me I am the auditor” to more of a humble, kinder human.

That of course, didn’t affect my work, however, it did tell me that it’s super important to appreciate people for their little things.

As my bosses used to say: “Neither of you are against each other, you both are working for the bank.”

PS: If you do not want AI to replace you, learn from this girl who showed the human side of her.

PPS: No, it didn’t affect my report however it did affect how I reflect on life.

And that’s super important 🙂

This is a sad post

Sometimes I wish I was rich and famous.

Haha, isn’t that an ironical statement looking at my other posts?
Of course, it is.

However, here’s why I wish so:

Today I had a rift with a very good friend. She’s been super-supportive through some good valleys of life. However, each week we work on a project where I am supposed to proofread a document and she is supposed to ship it. There are other and bigger projects as well that we both work on. (This was a humble rant to show this is not only what we do :D)

So occasionally when we are not able to deliver on our project, either of us texts the other person to follow up. Last week, she did not text me, and as I realised I had to do the work, she had already shipped by then. This week, I followed up with her, however, she did not want to give me the access of the original doc (I know this because I specifically asked for credentials which the boss wanted her to share with me) so she sent me an email.

After doing the edits, I sent her the email. She responded with requiring me to highlight the changes. I said editing the core doc takes lesser time, and I do respect that you do not want to share your credentials, however, it will take more time for me to highlight that. She came back with doing it herself, along with two more solutions that were invalid according to me, however, after this I said I would have loved to do it for you had you told me straight away instead of doing things to make me do more efforts, and also apologised if anything hurt her.

No response from her.

Honestly, it felt bad.

Not because she did not “respect” me by responding. Rather because I thought we were friends and I deserved a communication and clarity from a friend.

It also felt sad because she works at one of THE top companies of the world and I have left my job to pursue writing full time (PS: I do make money that is more than my job as CA however that’s for another day) however I do not have that title with me. Maybe this was not her intention. The world, though, by default respects the ones with titles and the ones who flaunt of having more money.

I felt sad. Cried over this small thing that perhaps even doesn’t matter. Felt sad because I couldn’t create a good relationship with someone whom I thought was a friend. Sad because aren’t we supposed to be honest with our friends? Sad because I did not wake up in the morning to “grab hold” of her credentials, rather was genuinely performing my duty. Sad because maybe because of this we may never be vulnerable with each other again, however I do love her as a friend and do not want to let her go.

But, out of pure love for a human being, I wish we both brought more love onto the table.

Yet, it is the role of good friends to respect and accept each other as they are. So here we go, I’ll work on not questioning this part of her (she definitely must have had a reason) and rather be kinder towards her.

But it felt bad.

Perhaps this won’t matter a month or even a week later. Perhaps none of us is wrong. Perhaps both of us are. Perhaps she doesn’t even remember this. Perhaps she will do something good to me tomorrow out of pure intentions and we will forget about this.

However, after a leap of today’s sadness, will come multiple new lessons and thousand new ways to love those who already offer themselves to you.

True love, is loving your friends without waiting for them to love you back. Don’t hold grudges however keep a mental note to not to offer them your vulnerability again.

Selfie while crying?

Everyone on the internet is doing fine.

And looking wonderful in their stories.

Which, of course, is a great thing.

However, bring me a successful person and I will show you the number of times they failed. Success is a numbers game. Zero exceptions. You can, of course, inherit wealth however what you do after that – become Mukesh Ambani or Anil Ambani is up to you.

So when you think it is only you who is scared while everyone else is already writing their autobiographies, remember that scene from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. where Ross is broken and shattered seeing Rachel going, and he says in a hoarse queer voice, “I’m fine!” That’s exactly the voice of the internet is. Trust your process, look up to people for inspiration, however, never ever mistrust or doubt your hard work. Because, no one ever clicks a selfie while feeling sad sitting in their balcony. Everyone will put a happy selfie, that perhaps a fake one just to join the bandwagon of impressing the social media that they are also like them.

The truest love story

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me!”
“Who me?”
“Your love…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“You.”
“Who ‘you’?”
“I am You…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond again.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”

This time, no response comes from the other side.
That’s when, the one behind the gate opens it up.

I usually equate this story to the love for work.

Back in the day when I used to be unhappy in my corporate job, the most fulfilling moments were the ones when I got beyond “I hate my job” and did the work because it brought moments of joy.

Right now as I am a freelance writer, the discipline is still required despite I love this work the most. And the days I just work and let it flow, are the days that I enjoy the most, instead of pondering about “I have to be disciplined to write.”

“Work is God made real,” said Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet.

Whenever we have gone beyond the realms of “someone else” and “me” and allowed the joy to emerge, is when we have felt most fulfilled.

Fulfillment isn’t a miracle that shows up. It’s something that shows up when we don’t allow our lower faculties to play the game.

That chat with a friend

Last weekend, I was having a casual chat with a writer friend.

After exchanging pleasantries, I thanked him for helping me bag a wonderful client, to which he responded, “Thanks to YOU, it’s your hard work.” And thus, we continued being humble.

As the conversation proceeded, he told me he had also applied for a writing engagement, which was finally bagged by me.

Those words of him just moved me. Here I was, getting envious of the number of clients and interesting assignments he has, and here he was, perhaps having the same emotion as me.

Too often, we take the most important things in life for granted.

The work that brings food on our plate.
The parents (no matter how weird they are) that make us fight for our existence 🙂
The friends who make us realise we aren’t alone.
The colleagues and clients who understand us when we had expected to be fired.
And most importantly, counting the endless blessings in our life when the Life we have today was the life we had dreamt of years ago.

How will we get more and be more if we aren’t grateful for what we have already been blessed with?

Thank you, my dear friend, your humility was always an inspiration for me. Now you are an inspiration to be grateful for my blessings. You rock! Like always 🙂

The tragedy of death

Death has taken bigger toll on 2020 than we had ever expected.

It has become a daily feat to conquer instead of facing it at the end of the life.

However, when death comes with a possibility threat, it also comes as a reminder:

1. That if it comes to grab us, let it take us away with our happiness, instead of letting its fear take away our happiness.

2. That there are people who need our support and just our emotional presence. We can always be there for them, even if we are not around them. Let our loved ones know you care. Because you do. And because they need you.

3. This moment is all we have. We don’t know what’s next, however we do own what we have now.

What to do when you feel empty?

When we feel empty, most of us navigate to social media.

Except that it doesn’t help.

Instead, what really helps is appreciation.

Whenever we are appreciated by someone, we feel a sense of validation.

Except, that it won’t come always.

So why not appreciate ourselves every time?

Why not be grateful for what is working?

Why not, be our own cheerleader?

Of course we can, when we can do it all the time for others.

If you feel lack…

If you feel lack of love, talk to your Mom.

If you feel lack of understanding, talk to your best friend.

If you feel lack of health, watch an influencer’s video on YouTube.

If you feel you lack happiness, talk to a kid.

If you feel away from yourself, talk to yourself.

What’s the cost of your dreams?

What is the cost of living life on your own terms?

You will be criticised by people who aren’t living their life on their own terms.

Don’t blame them, have sympathy for them.

Don’t wait for them to say sorry, you forgive them.

More than anything else, don’t stop when they want to live life according to you. They aren’t happy, you please don’t give up on yours because of their lack of it. The best way to make someone happy is to be happy yourself

Why do we hide our emotions?

What if a recruiter found a profile of gold and expressed the candidate clearly how good they were?

What if an influencer thanked a fan from the bottom of their heart when they did a nice gesture for them?

What if a boss voluntarily thanked an employee for the contribution they brought on the table?

We don’t express our truest emotions in our work because when we were on the receiving side of things, this is how the world worked.

The world we live in, is the world we have so meticulously created. So does the power to change vest onto us. How will we use it?

A note on remote thinking

For almost half a year, we’ve all been working remotely. While the new world comes along with its advantages and disadvantages, there is something under the covers we fail to see:

Since we lack communication, we fall in the trap of assuming. That assumption is often towards the negative side.

Perhaps we can’t have more communication with others anyway.

So why not start having those with our own selves? Why not start figuring out the most powerful meanings, when the meaning is up to us? Why do we have to just go the negative way?

A note on trust

Trust yourself, as much as you trust others.

Trust yourself more often.

Trust others more often.

Trust the pain, because it solely is responsible for making you enjoy the joy of life.

Trust your hard work, it never goes to vain.

Trust your parents, even when you don’t want to.

Trust your friends, they are there for you – anytime and any place.

Trust your work, coz it will go out into the world and do more good.

More than anything else, trust yourself. You have handled worse in the past. This too, shall pass.

It’s okay when it’s not okay

It’s okay to have unanswered emails.

It’s okay to miss a Zoom meeting on purpose.

It’s okay to not follow a schedule once a blue moon.

It’s okay to disagree with your loved ones.

It’s okay to buy and have things in way less than what you earn.

It’s okay, to be okay when it’s not okay. Okay?