A most meaningful year.

This article is a bit of a rushed job. I feel I could have better articulated the below content, but I am up against my deadline to publish this; so here we go with what we have.

I have no qualms about admitting that this year was quite tough; it was hard not just on me but on all of us. For me the struggle was primarily mental, but I am aware that a lot of folks had it harder still, having to deal with challenges on both professional & personal fronts, including the loss of loved ones to Covid.

This is not a piece of work intended to preach. Its more of a "notes to self", an outcome of the struggles I faced and my attempts to overcome. When you happen to be in a bad place, its often impossible to have one solution/thought/mode of being that will "fix" you. For me the greatest gift came from self-introspection. I was able to process my thoughts, both within the context of the current environment that I was in, and also within the larger framework of the life that I have lived so far.

Here are my learnings, or self-affirmations rather.

1.?Happiness, just like suffering, is purely transitory. Chasing happiness is a bit of a luxury. Living a meaningful life is a much better ideal to aspire to. You can find joy & meaning in the simplest of things; and your idea of joy & meaning need not equate to somebody else’s ; or what’s trending on Social Media. Life is a much easier game to play if its guided by meaning and purpose.

2. Mental health is as important as physical health. Back to back whammies (across both professional & personal lives), when not properly processed or dealt with, can eat away at you mental health over time. So every-time something unforeseen hits, it’s essential to take time and process your thoughts.

3.?Family is EVERYTHING! (Yupp, the F9 Memes are actually true!). It’s at your worst and loneliest moments that you recognize the value of your loved ones; a value that you were taking for granted. Every moment that life offers to hang out with your family, to chat with them, to do a video call or anything, is most precious. Make sure to turn up to meet & speak with them every time the chance presents itself. Life is too painfully short, unpredictable & fragile to do anything less.

4. It’s okay to love and enjoy the work that you do in a professional capacity. Sometimes, when everything else around you seems to be in a tempest, your work could offer a really stable ground to anchor yourself to, until things settle down. It’s very important to enjoy what you do during those 8 hours or so; as that translates to ~1/3rd of your daily life and ~ half of your waking life.

5. Be a positive opportunist with a strong moral compass. What does that mean? Well, you should strive to use every reasonable method within your immediate space and peer-group to master new knowledge. Be open-minded, ask questions when you are learning something new. You should then use this knowledge to improve yourself & your work, and use it as a platform to build new knowledge & processes that benefit everyone. And most importantly, you must share this newly developed knowledge with those around you. It’s a bit like borrowing new knowledge and returning it back, with interest. The world will be better because of it.

6.?Become comfortable with feeling discomfort. Expose yourself, even if a little bit at a time, to new experiences that help you understand your the basic fears & apprehensions. It’s important to understand that despite the quirks of fate, the indifference & occasional malevolence of people, reality, for the most part exists in a neutral space between the best & worst possible scenarios.

You simply cannot grow as an individual unless you are constantly tested by adversity. Let us aim to make the best out of what 2022 has to offer, with all its highs & lows.