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We should stop feeling bad.
We should stop feeling hurt over what’s over.
We should stop feeling regretful.

This is the advice we get when we are going through a negative emotion.
While this is what we know we should do, it is exactly what we are unable to do.

We want the negative emotion to go, but it persists.
The negative emotion persists, because we are resisting it.

What if, we just let it in?
What if we accepted that we are feeling this way?
What if we acknowledged the emotion instead of masking it as an elephant in the room that never existed?

When letting go doesn’t work, letting in does.

If we do not consume alcohol, our default response is to believe the ones consuming it are bad people.
If we do not party on weekends, our default response is to believe the ones doing so are bad people.
If we do not believe in relationships before marriage, our default response is to believe the ones who have them are bad people.
We have these moralistic views of what comprises good or bad in people! Driven by what we do. 

People don’t do things because they are bad people. They do it because in their head they have come to terms with what comprises good or bad. Just as we have a definition of it as well. 

Actions don’t make people good or bad.
Our beliefs make them so! 

It is easy to feel hurt. when someone gives you harsh feedback.  

However, if you only focused on the feedback and not the tone of it, you would perhaps learn something new.. 

• Don’t pay attention to the noise. Focus on the signal.
• There is always something more to know. Knowing everything is the beginning of stopping to know.
• Own it up and fix things.

The only superpower that could never be taken away from us is being real, is being us.
Zero competition! 

We all want to learn fast.
Maximise our experience in the least possible time.
And be able to tackle the right problems.

Reading helps us do that.

Not fiction. Instead psychology, human behaviour, history, biographies, self help.

Not only will they help us gain more wisdom, they will also take us out of trenches of bad mood.
Not only will they help us use our time better, they will also allow us to make our future better.
Not only are they a lifetime of wisdom compressed into several hours, they will also save us from the same mistakes.

The second best way to learn from mistakes is to commit them.
The best way is to read.

You want to explore.
Your parents want you to settle down.

No matter how much you try, things aren’t moving..

However, here’s a fact:
Our parents want exactly the same thing as we do: our happiness.
Their proposed path may be different, intentions aren’t.

If we try to listen to them and explain our perspectives, things will most likely change directions.
If they don’t despite you showing your happiness, financial freedom and others’ examples, perhaps you need to move out.

Do either.
But don’t let resentment live in a heart where your parents should.

The world runs on instant gratification today.

The instant likes, the instant comments, the instant live. 

However, this quick dopamine boost does more harm than good.
The reality is, all good things take time and effort.

True love, true relationships, true friendship, true meaning and fulfillment in work, true well being – physical, mental, emotional.

All the time! 

The quicker we realise good things don’t come quickly, more will we enjoy the daily small actions towards the long journey, even if they don’t give instant rewards.

You want to pick designing after engineering.
Maybe go for a self-financed trip for six months.
Perhaps quit graduation and get a full-time job in photography.

All these are not the conventional paths.
But all these are the paths that seek your attention.

Should you take them up?
Or should you “settle-down” first and have a back-up plan?

Steve Jobs said you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking backward. How will we be able to connect the dots if we do not move away from where we now are?

We picked up a book to read.
Now we don’t quite enjoy it.
However, if we leave it midway, guilt quickly jumps in.

Should we finish it up or read it fully?

The guilt works strangely. Instead of making us decide, it makes us give up on reading all together. 

What if we kept the books down if they took away our interest?
Or perhaps we skimmed through it?
Or read between the pages about what piqued our interest?

The best relationships with books are give and take.
We give them our time and they keep us hooked to read them.

What if they don’t respond to my cold email?
What if I get rejected in the interview.
What if people laugh at the content I share? 

What if they do respond to my cold email?
What if I crack the interview?
What if people give me great feedback on my content? 

We can get into the highest state of happiness or create a forever prison for ourselves, just through our imagination.

Creating content is less about new ideas on a random day.
It’s more of a process.

Showing up each day.
Documenting what we did.
Being yourself.
Creating content even when we don’t get the muse.

And, listening to the audience about what lights them up.

If we keep on doing it consistently without worrying about it to monetise, the power of compounding will take us places even we couldn’t imagine.

But the universal caveat remains unchanged:

Creativity shows up when we do.