Life at the eleventh hour!

This one’s my first in 2015, after a long time; I now have a collection of over 25 unfinished snippets written over the last 3 months, sitting in corners, trains, planes and buses. I was never able to complete them and it undeniably portrays my muddled and hurried life. So this weekend I decided to turn things over, forget everything else, spend some quality time with family, let my hair down, cook, write, smile, do what I like, played with a dog, joked and danced like a fool! It feels like someone just pressed F5 on the button of my life (else it could have been a forced system shut down)

We all crave for balance in our lives particularly when one activity in our routine eclipses the other, be it work, duty, responsibility or a deadline. I know workaholics who would take a few days off out of India with their family once in a year and name it a luxury vacation and then get back to the daily rut, to each its own, works for them! Nowadays children are more used to keepers than fathers and nannies than mommy’s! We are all busy earning a quality life for ourselves and our children. Because the whole meaning of quality is not based on basic, it has traversed to luxury. Children want an “image” which is popular but at the same time “superficial”. Girls want to be supermodels than being fit or healthy, we are into designer labels. Boys want their gadgets and branded jackets and shoes because that’s the inn thing. We want labels and mansions and beach houses with big cars and to achieve all of that, one has to work so hard for hours, which is the sad circle of life. So where is the time for us, our health, fitness, time for family or our interests? Unfortunately our interests and family is cornered or ignored when one is not born with a silver spoon and has to work hard to accomplish the worth one dreams of. This also leads to a number of diseases particularly like obesity, depression, low self-esteem and condemning yourself and the ones near you. So how does one save himself/ herself by not becoming a mad bot?

Henceforth, it is alright to open up and share. It is essential to exercise and engage in physical activities. It is alright to be social, meet new people, act foolish and dance once in a while. Though the one week vacation to an unknown place with a beach house or that luxury hotel on the hill top will give you some quality time with your family but remember you will be back to the same “I don’t recognize my kid anymore” situation from the coming Monday when you join work. Take out time and try to understand your family. Be meaningfully engaged on a day to day basis with your family. Silence causes a jagged communication hurdle in a relationship. Talk it out, laugh more and value what you have, be it family or your own accomplishments. It is tragic how having a balanced life just remains as phoney new year’s resolution for some. Almost all successful people have the right kind of support and love from their family; these people never disregarded or ignored their own family but worked hard with them on their side. Eradicate the loud desperation and insecurity about that job of yours or the not so perfect body of yours. Try to fall in love with both. Let us set the boundaries of our own lives, live by our rules where personal life is concerned. Time shall never come back again, so shall age. Once gone it will be gone with us confused, hurried, trying to complete targets and accomplishing our monthly salaries all the while. So save some time for fun which is later automatically converted to a memory. To wake up well rested and happy and sleep with no tensions or with a smile shouldn’t be an aim. Relationships fail when you marry your work or do something robotically day to day and hate yourself when there is no balance. We don’t want to be so busy making a living that we forget how to live.

We live in a society where men are supposed to work more in the office on “difficult” tasks than women, which is a separate debate altogether. Why do we irrespective of our gender have to define ourselves so strongly by our jobs? Someone working to death in a society is looked up as a virtue whereas the situation would might just be opposite in the organization one works for. Top organizations around the world strive for outcome, innovation and creativity and not just backbreaking or protracted efforts and extra time in office for a non-value add. Remember that the classic corporate or business warrior or the obsessed over children, all time mother and housewife needs a break! Get your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual side right because success is not slogging to obtain all the luxuries but passion and balance. A life well lived with your family and friends looks like heaven.