Another year gone by
And just like that, 2024 is about to end. No warnings. No excuses.
Yes, just like that.
Damn. I was supposed to visit Kashi this year.
If I were to build a sports company, I’d go with this tagline: JUST LIKE THAT!
Of course, it won’t work.
It’s too late now.
People don’t care about time or place anymore. Everybody is busy living. Not living it up. Only living.
Anyway, I wasn’t prepared for this year to end so quickly. Not that it’d have made any ounce of difference had I been warned or prepared.
I look back and try to make sense of what all happened over the past 12 months, and most of the memories are an animated version of bokeh. I see it but I can’t sense-check it anymore.
In phases, things moved quickly and then suddenly, like the inimitable gait of a sprinting giraffe, it slowed down.
Just like that.
For those who are looking for learnings and lessons and hacks and pro-tips in this year-end blogpost, the trick is to find calm and make it yours. Everything else is a song ripped into reels: you stop appreciating tolerating it much in tiny pieces.
As a boy, my definition of success was the height a person achieved. I noticed that not everyone were of the same height, so, in my book, if you are taller, you are more successful. And I obviously wished to be very tall. For some messed up reason, I stopped close to 5’8 whereas my brother crossed 6 feet. But today, I know for a fact that a person’s height hardly plays a decisive role. Some people are more down-to-earth physically while others are dunking in NBA. That’s just how it is.
Your definition of success changes too with contradicting seasons of an unskippable series called life. Today, you are healthy and hence, you don’t compare your success with those who are sick all the time. But, gods forbid, this attitude might change tomorrow. You never know.
For these pragmatic reasons, I strongly feel that there is no point quantifying 2024 in terms of success.
If you do it, it’s a waste of time. Utter failure, insofar.
You win some. You lose a lot. Move on.
All you can do is (try to) stay in the moment and not let those moments overwhelm you. To be fully aware of what’s going on when it’s going on is a gift.
I’ve already spoken about growth—and what it is supposed to do for us—in my previous blogpost. No point reiterating the obvious: you will grow as long as you are willing to learn.
But it’s unfair to talk about growth without mentioning money.
Here we go: Money is not ALWAYS the answer but it's important to earn money to know the difference.
Either way, you will have to find yourself first.
It’s your story and you are the main character. Even though you may not be in the limelight, everyone else are already the supporting cast. You might be under the impression that you lack aura—and most probably, you do lack aura—but it doesn’t matter. It’s your story. Best to own it before somebody else does.
Whatever direction you look at, there are metaphors. Very few things are as straightforward as a sunrise and a low tide.
Keep looking.
Stay hungry for a while but don’t be foolish.
Learn to love.
However, love is not blind. We all seek that warmth of companionship within our social strata. Cupid has been on indefinite leave since the fall of Roman empire. Stay assured that your hormones are responsible but society and history quietly taught you to select.
It’s a random exercise but not that random.
We are driven to embrace anything that moves us. We give it fancy words like love, sympathy, empathy, compassion, etc.
In reality, we do what needs to be done to stay sane.
If Superman can fly, it’s simply because he represents our deep-rooted evolutionary desire to fly away but not from our problems. Superman faces his problems bravely. And that is what all the possible allegories are for.
To motivate us to be better—to improve, to improvise.
I don’t mean to be rude (several readers of mine have mentioned this to me over the years that they find me aloof but witty; basically, a euphemism for rudeness) but nobody has cracked the code. No one.
The rich have rich problems and the poor have poor problems.
Those, amongst us, who (seemed to) have figured it out today didn't really know much not very long ago but they just kept at it. Today, nothing fazes them. Their days of yo-yoing with emotions like stress are dead and gone.
Each one of us here is trying to figure something that can never be complete. Like a rubik’s cube that rearranges itself as soon as you’ve got all the squares right.
That’s life.
Each year arrives with a heavy dose of optimism that you will –
eat healthy
workout thrice a week
sleep longer
work on your posture
breathe deeply
read more and scroll less
connect with wise folks
exchange ideas and fill your journals religiously
become spiritual
grow plants like your children
be kinder and warmer to others as well as yourself
learn a new language maybe
dedicate yourself to your craft
spend time with parents/grandparents
pick up a foreign skill like Figma
help
Valid, nice thoughts, nevertheless.
By as the year drags on, you feel a weird heaviness in your shoulders. Everybody does.
Perhaps, the trick is to not let your to-dos overwhelm you.
You missed a day? Big deal.
You can resume tomorrow.
Everyday is a new start. Every blink of an eye is you reincarnating into the person you’ve always wanted to be. Kashi can wait for now.