My F.R.I.E.N.D.S hangover

Like millions of others, I have done so many re-runs of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S that I know the episodes backward and I am guilty of throwing my favourite lines at unsuspecting souls.

But this article is not about that.

Ever since I have been trying to recover from the Friends Reunion hangover, I have realised there are quite a few life lessons that I have unknowingly picked up from the characters.

The internet must be full of these lists, but then I thought I'd share mine :-)

(In no particular order).

When you have a dream, you have to chase it wildly. On your journey to your goal, you might have to do things you don’t like. Monica Geller didn’t give up even when she had to dance in ridiculous costumes while serving at a diner. Eventually, she became the head chef at her restaurant.

When you have a single-minded focus, it’s ok if you goof at other skills. Rachel Green wanted to have a career in fashion, and unabashedly. She was a mess at a whole lot of other things and she did not beat herself up for that. She admitted her follies, laughed at herself, and moved on.

If you are passionate about something, others don't have to appreciate or even understand it. Everyone thought Ross Geller was a dork, and no one got his nerd jokes, but that did not make the paleontologist any less zealous about dinosaur bones.

If you are in for something long-term, there will be good times and not-so-good times. You have to learn to love yourself through your failures too. Joey Tribbiani dug his heels and stayed put through his actor journey from being a soap opera star to struggling as a body double to making it back with ad commercials.

Your career is a part of your life. It does not need to define who you are. It can be quite exhausting if you are going to have an agenda for everything you choose to do. Phoebe Buffay made her own choices as a freelance massage therapist and didn’t feel the need to explain her decisions to anyone. She went ahead and lived.

You are never too old to start anew. After sticking to a data reconfiguration career for years for financial security, Chandler Bing gave up a successful, well-paying job to start afresh as an intern in advertising that brought out the creative spark in him and made the most of his brilliant wit.

And now, I will go back to my hangover and stay there some more.