Nothing is as powerful as pain
And I say this in no sarcasm.
Hey Friends
Hope you are doing good. And looking forward to not working in the next week of holidays for most of us.
Welcome to the new edition of “Raw and Real”, where every week I share:
1 Raw and Real conversation on Life
2 Cool and easy to understand one-liners
3 Gratitudes (because gratitude brings plentitude) bros and sis!
Let’s start!!
1 Raw and Real Conversation
I have been writing for 9 years now. Officially.
Unofficially, some bits and pieces since 6th standard.
Each time I end up writing something good, something that touches people from the heart, something that makes them say “this is what I needed to hear”, it often culminates from a pain I am going through at that point of time.
The pain could be miniscule. Like wasting 53 minutes on a call with a prospective client when that call could be an email! (I mean, if you won’t respect your time, how will time respect you?)
Or the pain could be big. Like going through a friendship that isn’t working out.
But certainly that pain has always been a teacher, and a fuel to create art that I didn’t know even existed.
Most of my writing is a testament (testament is such a ChatGPT word hah) to that.
When most people see an art, they think the artist made the best of their hobby.
The truth is the art best artists make comes from making the worst of their pain.
“You think art is what people do as hobby?”
”No bro. Art is what emerges to heal when people are broken.”
To come to my art of writing, where did the pain (and the consequent urge to write) come from, initially?
I failed in an exam for the first time in May 2010. And then in November 2010. And made some incorrect choices with friends (uh-oh).
To deal with it, I started reading a lot. Motivating myself.
A year later, I fell in love with journalling.
Been doing it (almost) daily since then.
It was fascinating to me that I could share whatever I could without putting any filters, and NO ONE would be there to judge me. Wow!
It was my daily therapy as a college kid, before I could ever afford therapy lol.
Over time, this habit of venting out and journaling has led me to some of my most beautiful writings.
I just pour my heart out over something that is meaningful to me, and it is weird how many people connect with it.
But wait, why am I sharing this with you?
Because when we make the best use of pain, it becomes our ally instead of an alien.
When we do not run away from it rather deal with it, we learn to deal with everything life throws at us.
When we use that anxiety in our body to travel outside the body through our art, we eventually become free of it.
Think of Ranbir Kapoor in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Or Rockstar. Or even Tamasha.
The best of him came when he saw the unexpected worst of himself.
Which imo is true for every single one of us.
So I have a request to you, my friend:
Whenever pain comes (and it will), use it to write your own poetry.
What is it that you want to do when the pain comes? I want to talk it out loud. So I write.
Some people like to paint fluid art to just let things be messy that way.
Some want to go on an intense run right away.
Do whatever you want to do, unless it is not harmful to you or your body or your mind. (Okay fine, a slice of chocolate cake is allowed.)
And you will see, how pain is merely a fuel to bring out the best in you.
Does not mean you purposefully put yourself in pain? Lol. Pain will come to you inevitably, my friend.
It simply means that when the in the middle of a pain, use it.
Do not let it use you.
And you will be proud of how beautiful life will become.
All because of you, my friend.
2 One-liners
3 Gratitudes
My parents. They have been so supportive that I think we should have started communicating way earlier.
Wisdom to ignore stuff that is distracting. I used to have phone switched off for 12 hours of the night initially. Now I switch it off for 5 hours during the day as well. (Having a back up sim whose number is only with Maa Papa - because you should never be unreachable to them.)
The ability to say no. I love money. We all do. But saying a temporary no to say yes to your bigger goal, is what I am truly grateful for these days.
That’s it, all you wonderful people.
Make sure you make some time off during Diwali week.
Take care
Nishtha
PS: Whenever you are ready, here are two ways I can help you:
The Art of Corporate Communications, a course that shares the exact system I used to go from 0 to communicating with people of 20+ years of experience, conducting audits with opposing people for 5 years, managing Content team of a brand with 9Mn+ followers, and now leading my solopreneurship. (Fun fact: 90% of problems are due to communication).
The Career Changing Guide, a simple easy to read e-book to change your career to do something you love, and make money off it.