A Therapist posed this question to me. Two years back when I sought out for an emergency session with a crazy expensive celebrity counsellor on an impulse. While I had been itching to run away, my desperation kept me glued to the sofa as I waited for her.
As she asked me the question, I was stumped and flabbergasted.
I listed down my routine. I am great at doing what is required. But, none of them included anything for myself. Essentially, I was in the survival mode doing things to keep the days turning.
In hindsight, it was this question which changed everything for me. This was the start.
I realized my bucket list was untouched even though I had reached my mid-life crisis. One day, I woke up to the realization of how I was waiting for weekends desperately and passing by the working days, to the extent of not having a life on the weekdays.
In order to change that, I started to look for activities and challenges I could easily accommodate in my daily life. Thereafter, I went on heritage or nature walks, joined a book club, got over my fear of driving, took a starter course in playing piano and read a lot of new genres I would never have bothered.
I still have bad days and still do not have a system to combat them. But, I know when to push on and when its time to regroup. I am still trying to figure out things, still feel hopeless and spend days and months being disillusioned and depressed.
It started small and then I came across an interesting experiment somewhere. The idea was to divide the entire year into quarters and devote each quarter for a skill or a hobby. I decided to try it out and I wrapped up the first quarter successfully. The hobby for the second is planned and good to go.
But, then what’s life without curveballs. A big change is incoming so I don’t know if my hobby would survive the test of the hour or I might just have to cook up a new one!!
