Several short observations about life
Riffs on living, thinking and some combination
Raw and Real Conversation: Seven life observations
Observation 1: Always pay your dues.
Do not ever get to a position where people have to follow up with you. Whether people you work with or your tabs with friends. Or your accountability with respect to something you promised you’d do. If you are forgetful, use the device you are using to read this email to remind you. Laziness and forgetfulness do not form bases for reliability.
Observation 2: Assume the best.
When you have an unexpected call with someone who could decide the course of your career, it is easy to spiral into anxiety. Sit with yourself, and ask yourself, “What is the worst that could happen?” Now answer yourself what will you do if it does. Then go on to assume only the best. You have cleared your mind of the worst case scenario, and now that the weeds are out, your mind can actually grow fruitful plants.
Observation 3: Let go of the desires.
A month ago mom told me she was once about to contribute to a charity that she is associated with. But the charity always kept asking for more, even before my Mom went ahead and made her contribution. All it did was reduce her motivation and joy to contribute to that society. (Please ignore the pompousness of my comment here. Focus on the lesson in the next sentence.)
It made me think, even my goals are “asking for charity” from God.
Since then, I have let go of all my goals. I still want to go ahead and have ambitions. Just that I surrender the outcome to God instead of diminishing His joy that He feels while giving me.
When I don’t ask for charity from God, He always takes care of me in ways I hadn’t fathomed.
Observation 4: We are living in a world of content fatigue.
Too much content to consume. Too little time. That too is passing away fast. The only way to be lighter is to just let go of most content, especially if it is social media. As cliche as it sounds, stand guard at the door of your mind. And consume more through books and blogs.
Observation 5: People’s envy is none of your business.
Do not diminish your light just because someone else is using it to burn themselves.
If someone is in a pit of sadness and gloom, I support them to feel such feelings for them. But even in those moments when we are taking our time, our best selves still know that we are the ones responsible to make ourselves joyful.
I won’t gather anything if I say Alia Bhatt is 1.75 years younger than me and has way more material wealth than me. The best thing is I rather focus on my life. It ain’t rocket science :)
Observation 6: If you can’t change it, stop complaining about it.
You are driving and come across a pothole. Do all you can to fix it or get it fixed through authorities. But if you cannot, you are simply venting out. You are a complaining cat. A pain to be around. Your Mom did not envision this when she told you as a kid “heera hai tu heera.”
Observation 7: When you respect your boundaries, people respect them too.
If you don’t work on the weekends, don’t work on the weekends.
If you are super focussed in the morning and log off by 5 pm after getting all your work done, so be it.
If you like being quiet and not gossiping in the office, that is your choice too.
As long as you are not doing anything unethical, you have the right to create your boundaries. Just that, others will respect them only when you do too. Otherwise, it would add to one more thing to the list of the things they hate about you.
2 Raw One-Liners
There is no bigger pity than taking someone’s kindness as weakness and niceness as meekness.
Girl to girl: Work on your self worth that no boss/man has the power to break it.
3 (for) Real Scroll-stopping blogs for you (<100 words):
Alright then folks, I am in a season where I am taking questions from y’all to yap more about in the future editions of the newsletter. If you have some questions, please reply to this email or leave a comment. Chalo chalo, dil ka haal puchho :))
And, I’ll see you next week. Same time, same place. (This was the way VJs used to end shows back in the day when there were no OTTs.) Chalo chalo, now let’s move on.
Nishtha Gehija
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The Corporate Life Handbook: If you are in corporate job and struggle with daily humdrums of it, one-pagers with harsh truths are something no one is going to tell you :)
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Every Writer Needs to Read this: A book I wish I had 11 years ago when I was starting out as a writer
That 2nd raw liner got me ;)
how can you always write everything on point