Tag: yolo

  • 40 before 40 – Part I

    The furious fourties – a decade where you are neither young nor old. More like a sandwich situation. The recount of my sisterhood who have hit this milestone of aging range from liberating to imprisoning. Seems the fourth decade around the sun is infact a double-edged sword. Forewarned is forearmed, so here is a time bucket list of accomplishments that every woman should aim to get under her belt before turning 40!

    Solo travel. From something as exotic as a mountain sojourn to something as reasonable as a stay-cation in the home city – being on your own hits differently. You are unattached from the various roles you play, rediscovering yourself as an individual. The quiet, the solitude, the unknown, the discoveries – you can own them all. Bonus – it does wonder for your self confidence.

    Meditate. While levitating seems out of the world but meditating can help channelise your blocked energies and find a vent out. A peaceful one where you can let go of your thoughts and train your mind for strength. So start practising a few minutes of quiet everyday, allow mindfulness to engulf you.

    Day out with the maiden family. Plan some block of time with your parents and siblings, just like old times. Bond over memories forgotten, rummage through childhood treasures or just spend time at leisure with each other cosying up over nostalgic food and wine. Bonus it’s a huge dopamine dose without burning hole in the pocket.

    Give back to society. Start finding means to volunteer your time and efforts. Chose a cause close to your heart – beach clean up, teaching underprivileged kids or caring for silver citizens. Deploy your skills at a not-for-profit organization and make the world around you a better place. One day at a time.

    Join a sports group. Pick up your favourite sport – indoor or outdoor and start bonding with like minded folks over it. Give yourself another social channel to mingle at and since it’s a game the cognitive and physiological benefits are yours to reap anyways.

    Find your poison

    Girls only itinerary. Invest in thrills and frills with your girl gang. Spend time with your sisterhood exploring diverse interests from wine-tasting to knitting to glamping. Splurge, spend or save – choice is yours. Idea is to cosy up with your favourite women and leave your worries behind.

    Try a new hobby. You think you can’t paint – then pick up a brush and learn. You think reading is too boring then join a bookclub. Or you find baking cumbersome, look for a baking guru whose sessions can inspire your inner pattiserrie. Giving a diverse, completely untried activity a hand unlocks new neural circuits in your brain. You never know it could even unleash a hidden Picasso or a nimble Nigella within you.

    Adrenaline adventure. Before you are labelled too old (or your knees give away) catch the thrills of jumping, gliding, crawling! Go on all fours or riding an ATV. Find a junkie sport and give it a shot. Afterall you won’t be this young forever so why wait.

    Teach something formally. Ofcourse you got skills, you got knowledge and you are armed with information then why withhold it. Pass it on to others formally, it could be handwriting, making pickes, a long forgotten art of embroidery or just public speaking. There are takers for everything in today’s world. This experience of putting yourself out there and imparting your skill is both liberating and learning at the same time.

    Downtime with your child before they turn a tween/teen. Perfect time to catch them ripe as the child is neither a dependent kid neither a superbly detached self-proclaimed teen sensation. Re-discover a theme park, join a night sky watching group or just go camping in the woods. Go painting at the beach or just run a movie marathon night. Create memories to last them a lifetime!

  • One life, many lives

    Do you only live once? Or is it that you live multitude lives in a lifetime. Afterall, every few years or decades one is living a life completely different from the previous in more than one ways. Nothing is the same. The physical body undergoes changes, intelligence grows, mind expands and the soul transforms. Every new phase of being brings a new role, a new title and a new personality to the forefront. Seems the term YOLO is just to keep encouraging to live better and not delay gratification. Not just in this one life but the many lives we live.

    As a kid, maximize play. As a teen, maximize exposure. As a young adult maximize learning. As a new-spouse, maximize togetherness. As a parent, maximize growth. As an older adult, maximize friendship. In your silver years, maximize giving. It could be this and much more for each of this time bucket. In fact some could be constant goals manifested differently for different time of life. In short, fretting about one life and too much to do is a stress-inducing point of view. Think of your journey of life as many lives rolled into one, where you have constant chances of being a better version, at every age and stage of the sojourn!

  • Can we love twice?

    ‘We only live once, we only love once’ went the famous dialogue from a romantic love story. Read along to prove its untrue and yes you can learn to love multiple times over.

    How do u define what love is to your kid? Is it an overwhelming sense of affection, or is it a strong sense of attachment or is it a sense of deep concern? There is no one feeling which can describe it accurately. And no one way of expressing one’s love.

    When you feel a strong sense of affection towards your baby, it is nothing but the feeling of love. You show it by your actions of taking utmost care of it, doing all you can to keep it safe and away from any harms.

    Or is love the deep sense of concern you shower on your lover? Wherein you can or cannot care by your actions but go all lengths to express your concern for their well being. Where all you can do is communicate in formal ways and let them drive their own well being.

    Or is love the charged level of enthusiasm which makes you spend hours watching football? Or the deep belief in climate change or Downs syndrome which drives you to go lengths to give your time to support the cause.

    Or is love the passion you express for your spouse or partner? The sense of unbroken commitment, lifelong fidelity and infinite companionship which makes you commit to them.

    So to me all forms of love are true, pure and sincere. And yes you can harbour each of them in your mighty little heart for your loved ones – all at the same time.