Eggs in many baskets!

It has taken a long time to realize the shifting of the gear that would be taking place in my thoughts over the months or maybe – a few years from now.  

I don’t know about you, but I was lead to believe that “focusing” on a particular goal in life (most of the time it is “work oriented” for boys) will eventually give you results. It would build your character, define your self, and well – lots of money/ fame and so on will follow…..you just need to push yourself to attain the goal or strive towards the ‘perfection’ that you have defined for your self.

I don’t doubt the above approach, however, at least I have seen other parameters in life getting compromised just for the sake of attaining what I consider precious. I am more interconnected with many other things besides work and those, too, need nurturing. Relationships, parents, friends, hobbies, sports, ‘me’ time and so on – all these, I think, compliment my mood/ drive/ inner urge to keep doing good work. How can we say that these things are to be neatly compartmentalized? They are not. In certain times of the day, we tend to focus on one aspect more than the other, and perhaps there are phases in life (months or years) when we focus on one aspect more than the other, BUT all coexist and all have an important role to play (or do have an important position in my life). 

Mostly, in a hyper aggressive environment and fiercely competitive world, I made the mistake of not emotionally investing in other intimate things besides work. As time goes by, we get what we have sown. There is no ‘other time’ where you should ‘start’ doing something else before you achieve what you are doing now….it doesn’t happen as per such plans. And then you realize the limitations of sequential planning and compartmentalization! Or such thoughts that make you believe that you should always be “prepared” for something or should always keep on trying to find a purpose in your actions and go for it! (Crap!)

It is a mistake to consider that work is everything and one can sustain oneself only by work. Not anyone of the above parameters (by themselves) will last long enough to sustain our thirsts or well being. We need all. And therefore, it seems proper, to be engaged/ involved in everything we do – no matter it might look silly at that moment. Not all things are done for efficiency or achieving perfection or for reviewing or for learning…many may be done out of emotional love, or to give you peace or to feel loved or worth or whatever. We are humans, and we seek love and give love in all dimensions (not only work). 

I think it is funny, that our worth is simply spoken in terms of work output or money or business or profit –as if we don’t seem to have any other parameter to be spoken about! If this is what the world is tending too, then we need to seriously think about our own mental health.

At least I have decided to take things easy and listen to all the signals the environment gives me. Not everything in life is good or perfect at the same time and neither will it remain that way. Therefore, the energy we need to sustain ourselves may come from a very different source, provided we have emotionally invested in it. Parents/ friends may encourage us sometimes, at other times we have to go alone, yet sometimes sports or hobbies may make us forget past traumas and help us bounce back, whereas ‘silence’ and observation of the daily pranks of a toddler may reveal wonders of the world! 

Therefore, be normal! No one is asking you to prove yourself and neither there is God up there to take an account of what you have done so far!! Whatever it is, we do it NOW and embrace it NOW!