One of the craziest books I have read till date is “Em and the Big Hoom” by Jerry Pinto. Even before proceeding, I suggest you skip this article and go in blind into the book. The read is absolutely rewarding. Please check the trigger warning beforehand.
Trigger Warnings: Depression, Mental Health, Suicide
If you still want to read , here we go.
[Read more…] about “Em and the big Hoom” by Jerry Pinto
This aspect of my personality is related to this blog. I have been writing for a very long time now, admittedly it turned sporadic for the past many years. Anyways, that’s a story for another day.
As part of the blog, I got addicted to trying out so many personal care products, I started hoarding them. At one point of time, I had more products than what I could use in an entire year and I would still keep buying more.
As usual, life finds a way to balance out things. One day, suddenly, I lost interest in everything. I still have some of those expired products, almost 6-7 years later.
Lately, I have started realizing how much of clutter we hoard throughout our lives thinking we would use them but never even taking them out of the closet. Therefore, I have started paying attention to all my purchases, weighing in and waiting to make sure that it is not an impulse buy and is essential.
To support my resolve, I have augmented them with couple of decisions:
And, slowly and steadily, I intend to add to these rules I have framed. Eventually, I hope to reduce my baggage to just enough that I can travel with it.
I do a lot of unnecessary introspection and interpolation. And, sometimes, the by product is random nonsense and going from point A to point Z through skies and oceans, things which do not make sense if you do not live in my brain. Let me put it more concretely.
I am on an experience kick. Embracing uncertainty and uncomfortable situations for growth and to interact with life. Now, as part of that I realized we humans are extremely scared of the possibilities of limitlessness.
The brain does not have the capacity to imagine what it does not know. For example, I can not fathom for the life of me how to spend a day if I was Modi or Zuckerberg or anyone else. Because, I do not have the necessary resources to even begin comprehending the scale of their lives. And, to imagine reaching that state is in itself terrifying. Simply because that success is not imaginary, it is existing in the real world but my life and experiences are so vastly different from that end point, I can never think of reaching even midway to that journey.
Which brings me to the point – What makes anyone say they like something or they do not like something, especially when they have no experience with it. Will the said person try out everything and then decide whether they like the activity or not? But, then, one does not say Yes to everything. Some of the activities may be termed as a Maybe and some are straight out No.
The question is what makes them say Yes or No. Is it because they already know they do not want to try it out or just because it is unfamiliar and, therefore, uncomfortable.
Take hiking or trekking, for instance. I have never done it so I have no idea if I would like it or not. But, would I want to try it. The question is a bit intricate because if I consider the sole physical demands of the activity, I am not adventurous or outdoorsy and do not like insects or leeches clamping onto me. And, any changes in weather puts me off. But, I could definitely try out a beginner-friendly hike of a small enough duration before setting the Everest base camp as a goal.
Whereas, if you talk about Skydiving, that’s a straight out No. Because, I am scared of heights and I have no inclination to jump from a plane into nothingness when I can not jump from three stairs to the ground below.
So, there are levels of experiences and degree of discomfort we may be open to experience and the more we put ourselves into those situations,, our tolerance for handling a slightly more uncomfortable situation increases, thereby widening the range of activities we may indulge in.
Note to Self: Next time an opportunity comes, do not knock it down immediately. May be, it’s a chance to transform my horizons,.