Life is too short to be spent gloomily. You should take it lightly at times and remember to smile and laugh to your heart’s content whenever you can. It helps you rejuvenate and go through the struggles that life throws at you with renewed vigor.
There will always be moments when you feel down, when you feel as if there are no more avenues left for you to drive towards success. Most of the people on the planet take such impediments to heart. They are unable to brook the idea that the sadness of today will easily be transformed into successes of tomorrow. And they need to outlive the present stage of gloom to get to the light.
Photo courtesy Mohit GuptaInstead of fighting against the bad days or the times when everything feels as if they are going against you, many choose to resign. There are many who become passive to the whole ordeal and there are others who choose to end it all in the spur of a moment. While being passive to all kinds of torture or bad times may prove to be beneficial in the long run, ending your life can never be praised as a clever act.
It is in times such as these that people need to think about the roles they play in their own lives. They need to remind themselves of what the great industrialist Shri Ratan Tata has said, “There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tension. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a prepaid card with limited validity.”
But then you may be tempted to ask about the refuge: What can I do to lessen the pain? The first answer to that would be, you don’t need to lessen the pain, you need to face it and turn it to pleasure. The second answer should be that you need to search deep within yourself and find out more about your own desires and needs.
Did the last relationship you were in turn out to be a massive blunder? Do you feel that you cannot connect well with the people back home? Is your relationship with your co-workers not that good? Many of you might be having troubles in all the three fronts, but before you can actively address the problems they face, you need to heal yourself first.
Take some time to yourself. Switch off your phones and laptops. If the office keeps calling you repeatedly for some work, tell them that you need to do some healing and that you should be left to yourself; make them respect your privacy. Once you have been left alone to yourself, do what you feel like doing. You may just want to lie around or sleep, you may want to binge watch seasons on Netflix or Amazon Prime, you may want to eat all the ice cream and chips in the world. Do whatever you want to do at that very moment.
However, you should always remember that this mode of self-care is nothing more than a temporary escape. It is always essential to find the necessary escape when you are not feeling right. But it is more important to come out of your escape if you do not wish to spend the majority of the rest of your days on the couch, getting obese and watching serials and eating junk food. Social media can also be a veritable form of escape. All these modes may offer you temporary respite but none of it will teach you how to truly breathe comfortably.
There are many activities that are healthier than the ones discussed above. It is always better if you choose to pack your bags and go on a tour; if you like interacting with young kids then you may want to start teaching part time; if you want to make a difference in the society that you live in, then you can enroll yourself in an NGO and start teaching the less fortunate kids there.
There are a host of activities that can take you on the right path of life. You only need to give it a little more space than the entities that suck the life out of you.
Learn to live, laugh and be your own best friend.
Written By Poonam Chatterjee
Week 10, March 2021
