Five in Five!

According to Henry Miller “one’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”. Seems more relevant today because it feels like perhaps, I may have arrived.

Today, I completed my five years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I remember boarding my flight from Edmonton in 2016, holding on to my mom, and hugging my sister’s kids a tad bit too long. Thinking last minute whether this was the right thing to do – to be in a different time zone, a different continent, to be living away from home, and stepping into the unknown.

?Five years later, I know I made the right choice.

?You see, as humans, we are shaped by our experiences, and our experiences in-turn, shape our perceptions. Safe to deduce then that the broader the experiences, the more pronounced the perceptions. Debatable? Of course (but isn’t everything these days anyways?) applicable though, certainly!

?These past five years have been filled with fond memories, reflections and most importantly meeting some marvellous humans! Those stories perhaps best stored in my memories and of course on my Instagram. ?

??But a few lessons I’d like to share – my top five in the last five years:

1. ?Befriend the brain: I truly believe that as humans, we have tremendous, untapped potential. Over the course though, we lose focus and inundate and distract our brains with the irrelevant. The goal is to befriend the brain and leverage this power bank to help us manifest our goals. So long as we believe in them!
2. Think straight, talk straight: As someone conditioned in Canada, we take politeness to whole new realm – in fact, we become almost chronically apologetic. A key lesson one of my Mentors taught me has been to “think straight and talk straight”. This helps us channelize our thoughts more coherently and is overall an efficient way to communicate – so yes be polite and think straight/talk straight.
3. Family, Friends & Foes: With everything that the world has gone through – the ones who truly make life better are the ones who brighten your inner orbit. Be around family, and friends. Focus on actions not words and soon you’ll be able to tell the difference between your friends and your foes. Invest your time with those in your inner orbit, these relationships add fulfilment to our lives.
4. Mentors: your luck enablers: Can’t emphasize this enough – my mentors have opened doors, guided me to pursue beyond the comfort zone and taught me to be self-reliant. Seek and find genuine mentors, because they add meaning to your path, your mentors truly are your luck personified in humans.
5. Learning for Living! With change (disruptive and otherwise) being the one true constant, what prepares us for the ever-changing world is a genuine commitment to learning, whether it’s a language, a sport, a complicated plank and/or that new TikTok dance, learn it. Learning amps up our capabilities for agility and resilience.

?The past five years flew by. The most precious part of this time has been the wonderful humans I have come across, the beautiful experiences with them have shaped a new lens of perceptiveness, that final destination or not, it's only really people who can make a place feel like home.

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