For the love of yourself, please pursue your passion
When I say "pursue your passion" it does not mean going all in with blinders everywhere (though that won't be wrong). It means something else, though
Raw and Real Conversation
My eldest sister is a painter.
Ever since I have known life, I have seen her painting. Since I’m 34, this means she has been painting for around 30 years now.
She has made paintings for our walls, for our uncle’s walls, for her walls, for her employer’s walls…all of that with the most absolute finesse an artist could do.
But a terrible thing happened to her in her mid-twenties.
She got married :) Just kidding (only slightly).
Since my BIL was from education industry, he made my already post-graduate sister pursue B.Ed. and MA and get a job as a teacher.
Looks good, only if you want to do it.
It turns out, my sister complied. But never ever quit painting.
She went on to get a job as a teacher, and then was moved as an art teacher. This is what she does for a living now: teaching in school and then evening coaching students who want to learn painting.
Yet she is one of the most contented and happiest people (from within, not just faking it—you can always sense it, isn’t it?)
Why am I telling this to you, though?
Because my sister’s life has been nothing short of miserable, yet she is one of the most satisfied people I have ever seen. She always has a smile on her face and is bubbling with enthusiasm for life (a difficult thing to do when you are in your mid to late forties).
Here is my theory on this:
She is so centered from within because she follows her passion of painting, no matter what. Her husband (my BIL) is not the supportive kinds. He also keeps an eye on her SMSes to see if she is hiding some secret money. (Poor thing, she cannot even invest anywhere because of Sherlock).
But the point I am trying to make is this:
When you pursue your passion, it makes you come alive in a way nothing else could. Period.
So, my friend, please make time for your passion. Pursue it even if it is not a full-time thing. Do it for the love of it and nothing else. If not daily, you can always make time on the weekends.
You don’t need a why to everything. Sometimes doing something for the sake of doing it because you like it is more than a strong “why”.
A question to consider is, that sometimes people do not know what their passion is.
In that case, the wisest thing to do is to pick up a grandma hobby and do it. Knitting, stitching, reading, dancing, going for a walk without the phone, crotchet—anything that keeps your mind engaged, is not merely menial work, and does not involve the use of phone. Do something. But please have a life of you outside of your work and family and friends.
Have a love affair with a passion that only you and you can define how great it is.
In the June of 2025, I watched the last few minutes of the IPL Final match between RCB and Punjab Kings. I have never watched a full match in my life, whether T20 or ODI, so test is too far ahead.
But through memes on social media it was clear that RCB is a team that is much spoken of but hadn’t secured an IPL trophy yet, over the 18 years of IPL.
After the second ball of the last over of the match, when it was clear that unless RCB did something stupid, they would win, and the camera focused on Virat Kohli who had already broken down.
Hand on heart, even I broke down watching him. Perhaps everyone who was watching the game that night.
And it has got little to do with IPL but more to do with Virat’s dedication to the RCB team over the past 18 years. “I have given this team my youth, my prime, my experience,” he said in the post-game interview. Such patience does not come if you don’t love your craft. Later in the interview he also said that this trophy meant a lot to him, but he regarded test matches (the OG of cricket) 5X higher than this.
This is love.
This is the love we gotta find through our passion.
I am not asking you to quit your job and do it. It is your life. But your life cannot be just work na? It has to have love for the art you want to do.
Most people won’t be able to become as grand as Chikoo or Taylor Swift in pursuit of their craft, but the goal was never to become The One. The goal was always to become one with yourself.
Your joy with your passion does exactly that for you.
2 Raw One-Liners:
If you read a good book or come across a great product, leave a great review online.
If you come across a bad book or a bad product, try refraining from leaving a review.
3 Things I am grateful for:
The joy of writing every day. When you find true love, this is what happens <3.
Emails of people who write back. It feels good to be trusted for who you are and writing with your heart bare open and people resonating with it.
I am flying international for the first time next week so yayyy (so late in life not due to lack of affordability, thank god, but because I am a vairagi :))
On that note, I’ll see you next Saturday again my friend.
Happy Diwali. Stay lit, stay fit, that’s it :)
And please don’t burn crackers.
Rather, be a firecracker. (Firecracker: an outstanding person).
Okay ji? Chalo.
Nishtha Gehija
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