Tag: Human nature

Pick your battles

HarkrishanLeave a comment

Have you ever been in the shower or on your commute and imagined having a perfect argument? One where you make such sound and perfect arguments that the other person is struck speechless. For any young readers, I mean an argument that would be unanimously declared “savage” by your peers.

Well, I’ve done those before. Day dreamed of that perfect combination of words that change minds, moods and mindsets.

Sadly, I must inform you that those are only dreams. Reality is not the flavour you expect it to be. As I grow up, I find that I wake up with a finite and often startlingly little amount of energy. This is spent on dogs, work, conversations, reminding myself I don’t need more tech (for now) and finally, time with loved ones. The last one is what I try and save most of it for, to be honest.

Now, on any given day there’s quite a few opportunities for me to engage in ‘winnable” situations – mostly things like what show to watch, or whether we should watch the new Deadpool movie, do the dogs need another accessory, do we really need to go to that dinner. The more serious ones I won’t name but all relationships suffer from those moments where the other takes a position that you don’t agree with.

The more serious moments can be frustrating. In my experience, those moments where someone cannot share your viewpoint is like standing at the edge of steep hill when you cannot see the bottom.

You can jump into a conversation or you can walk away.

I’ve known both kinds of people. Those who rarely engage and those who have commandeered entire meals to make sure they prove their viewpoint to be the only one worth having.

Honestly, you gotta pick your battles.

I respect someone who stands up for what they believe in, but when the food is getting cold and you’ve scrolled most of Netflix trying not to watch what your partner wants to watch – that battle is no longer worth winning. Put on their movie and eat your dinner. You’ll be done in ten minutes, anyways.

It is the naive mindset that tries to win every situation because their worth is linked to how correct everyone else thinks they are. Or yet worse, it is linked to how wrong they can prove others.

To know when it is not worth it, is a skill I hope you all work on. To spare yourself the effort of explaining yourself to one who will not understand. Avoid wielding logic in a situation spurned by emotion. Run from those who sink low to win, lest you find yourself sinking lower. And in the face of blatant ignorance and blind belief, nod or better yet, stay silent. To avoid starting some battles, is a victory in itself, I have learned.

In many ways, I link this to self-care. Care about your self enough to know when to engage, when to step back and if you’re like me, when to send a long letter explaining how you feel so you can’t be interrupted by those incapable of listening.

In no time, we’ll all end up veterans of those small everyday battles. Scarred from the wrong ones, glad for the right ones, and happy about the times we picked peace over pride.

A win

HarkrishanLeave a comment

If we’re lucky, we have some loved ones. People we rely on or those that care about us. And it’s a good feeling.

On some days, though, I’m dealing with a deep unrest inside of me. And those go-to relationships don’t seem like the beacons of support they usually are. Because I feel incapable of reaching out to them. 

It is a strange feeling that takes me occasionally and it feels that way tonight. This post is my attempt at a solution.

My writing has always been a very personal outlet. I’ve not often been able to write on topics people recommend I explore. No matter how intriguing or cogent, the words do not flow until I have thought about it myself. But, back to it. I write tonight to tackle that feeling of unrest by occupying myself with an activity for which I do not need another person. 

And the relief I feel as I write this reminds me – it is so important to have a space that consists of just you. Whether it’s an activity, a certain ambient environment. A space that consists of just you is familiar. It is uncomplicated. I sincerely hope you have a space like that. And if not, think about what it might be. 

My space consists of Harry Potter audiobooks, a playlist of The Last of Us 2 game soundtrack and walks. Physically, I prefer to be by myself when I am in my space. That is not to say I want to escape interactions. It’s like sleep. It’s a form of rest and it can’t be done while your mind is half here and half there. 

A yet harder step is to recognize the need to access your space. I’ve had many occasions where I have instead resorted to just putting something on TV I’m barely watching while scrolling on my phone. Or making a huge plate of food that I will not feel good after. I find myself jumping from one activity to another not gaining any semblance of content out of them. And that leads to self-doubt. Why can’t I get enjoyment out of these? What’s wrong with me?

The road you take to make yourself feel whole takes work to define. And it takes more work to consciously choose that road over others again and again. I am happy with my choice tonight.

After a long day, I will take this win.

Time to under-think

HarkrishanLeave a comment

When I started this blog, my goal was life lessons. I imagined writing about things that happened to me. Realizations that turned out to be revelations would feel relatable to my readers. It was a good way of looking at it for a while. But somewhere along the road, my idea of what I could post on here shifted.

I would write entire drafts but would feel like the message wasn’t good enough. Good enough for what, I’m not sure. Sometimes I would write my heart out after a horrible day and feel like I was inflicting my woes on the world and leave it in the drafts folder. Imagine putting a standard on the kind of days you have which decided if they were good enough to share or not. Like you needed to have just the right kind of bad day to get an interesting lesson out of it. A ridiculous notion, I have now found.

The problem is over-thinking. Everything. It is so easy to get caught in the cycle of over-thinking – things from little interactions to what someone means when they respond with “ok.” For me personally, I frequently end up imagining how I’ve made this person feel and how they tailored their acknowledgement (their “ok”) to a true reflection of what they think about me. Another ridiculous notion. 

In the natural way of things, too much thinking should be countered with little thinking or under-thinking. Take this blog, for instance. The amount of time spent wondering if a post was “right”, was time I could’ve spent posting something every week. What does it matter if everything isn’t perfectly balanced? It’s only a blog and I’m not trying to save the world here. Just write for myself and create something with my name to it. No need to over-think it. Just gotta under-think and post about it. 

Human interactions are the same. To wonder the meaning behind each text has little consequence. People may or may not have hidden meanings behind texts and voice tones on the phone. But until you know there’s a problem, why imagine the possibility of one. Under-think, my friend. Under-think the living daylights of some interactions to counter your over-thinking until you find moderation. A balance between the two.

Under-thinking has been a great addition to my life. I am still learning when to use it and when I actually do need to give a thing some thought. I’m sure I will make mistakes. But that’s alright. 

This post isn’t really as organized as I’d like it to be. But that’s alright. I’m sure you won’t mind ^^