Year: 2018

Don’t be perfect

HarkrishanLeave a comment

I always loved watching sports movies. Rocky was one of my all-time favourites. It was about a man who trained hard and rose to the occasion. As I watch that movie again, it makes me want to do the same thing. Not take up boxing, but to work hard. Harder than anyone else. To make sure nothing can stand in my way. To be perfect.

Every single day, I want to be perfect. But I’m only human. So, sometimes I sleep through the alarm. Other days, a really good TV show brings me down. Sometimes, I don’t go on my run because I’m out of clean socks.

The next day, I judge myself for not being perfect yesterday.

What does it take to be perfect all the time? What do I have to give up to get there? And if I knew, would I give it up?

Storytime. Back in my boarding school days, I loved reading Harry Potter. Those pages sucked me in and I pored over those books for months on end. I read them in class. I read them while I ate. And I read them when I was supposed to be sleeping. And on one fine day, a teacher found me reading the book a day before a final. I got a nice long talk on how I should be focusing on my exams instead of on pish-posh like that. How that book wouldn’t get me anywhere in life, but the math textbook might. It was not a good day.

She told me that working towards a goal meant leaving everything else behind. And that, I truly believe, is the definition of being perfect. To be immaculate in everything you do. To leave behind tiny things that don’t concern your work. To be a flawless diamond as you walk through life.

No one should have to live like that. I’m done trying to live like that.

From now onwards the mantra is,

Do your best to be your best.

You might be tired of hearing me preach, but here’s another thought for you. If at any point in time you find yourself doing something wrong, or not doing something that you’re supposed to be doing. Take a second. Admit to yourself that you have messed up. And go do your best to make things right.

Trust me, it’s the best way to live.

Do your “thing”

Harkrishan2 Comments

Whenever I’m in a space full of people I try and understand some things about human behaviour. After about 16 hours in two planes and an hour on a bus back to my place in Guelph, there’s something I noticed.

So there’s all kinds of people I see whenever I take public transport. Loud people. Well-dressed people. Serious-faced people. Lost-in-the-floor people. The list goes on. So let’s say they all have a thing. And based on today’s world, some of these “things” are more socially acceptable than the other. I won’t go on to point them out but it’s the way it is.

My “thing” is music. I always have earphones on as I travel. I have some incredible self-made Spotify playlists which could, in my opinion, quite possibly blow the roof of any public transport vehicle. So I listen to music. On some days it’s Drake. On others, its Arijit. I switch here and there. Today, as I was on the bus, I was totally in my zone. I was listening to this incredible song called Suffocation Blues. I was tapping my legs. I can’t always guess the lyrics but I do try.

And as I’m listening, I look around the bus and see someone who was looking at me with this quizzical look. Now I chose to give the person the benefit of the doubt and went back to my song. A couple songs later I notice the person again, looking at me with an expression that clearly said, “What is wrong with him?”

So back to my original point. Here is what I noticed. Some people generally reserve themselves from doing anything that they consider to be “a couple centimetres south of normal”. They sit there looking into their phones waiting for their Snapchat conversations to progress further down the path of pointlessness. And that’s okay. That’s their thing and I’m proud they do it no matter what. But why is it that when someone has a “thing” a bit on the unusual side, people around them immediately disapprove? They crinkle, point it out to their friends and enjoy their silent derision.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself on that foot-tapping, song-singing side of that scenario but if you have, then you’d know that it can get pretty awkward. And it did for me. But later that day a thought passed my mind.

Only one who is uneasy in his own skin will laugh at those that are living their lives to the fullest.

Do two people dancing with crazy moves ever look at each other and disapprove? No. They just silently congratulate each other on not holding anything back and continue to boogie. 

Now if you’ve never been on the crazy dancing side of life, maybe that’s just who you are. Nothing wrong with that. But maybe, you’re letting the best in life pass by. So either join the stage or enjoy the party from that bar stool. And if you’re on that dance floor going nuts, and you see someone looking at you like you’re crazy, feel sorry for them. And then go back and do your “thing.”

Keep at it!

Harkrishan1 Comment

“You need commitment to start something. But you need consistency to finish it.”

I have no idea who said this, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me. Especially today. You see, I started this blog exactly a week ago. Last Friday, I wrote the “About Me” post almost feverish with excitement about this new project. At that point, I had a ton of ideas flowing across my mind before I could even catch them. Bliss.

But just today I noticed, that I haven’t given it much thought over the past couple days. It just slipped my mind. Maybe because I’ve been so concerned about whether to go with the brown or the black shoes on Amazon. But that’s what happens, isn’t it?

For me, it’s just like the gym.

I start out pumped and ready to go. The first day is amazing. The second day is better so. The third day I tell myself it’s going great. But on the fourth day, some friends decide to go out. I go out, have a great time and come back satisfied. The gym slips my mind. Something else comes up the next day. And suddenly, it’s been a week since I last went to the gym. This is how most of my projects get cast aside. Consistency is an art I haven’t yet mastered but I mean to start working on it with this blog.

That being the case, this post is my version of dragging myself to the gym on a lazy day to do at least half of my usual workout. The goal here is to keep moving. Doing a little bit everyday. Especially, on the days when I don’t want to. We all hear the quote about working hard. But they don’t go on to say that some days are harder than others. And on those days, you need to look back and remind yourself of the reason you started.

So do me a favor. The next time you don’t feel like doing something that you should be doing, think of a reason. Think of one singular reason that stands out amid all the negativity. And if you can’t, borrow mine.

“Because I said I would.”