“More than ifs and buts in life, it is the mindset that counts and makes things possible”
Sudha Murthy
One of the greatest realizations of a morning walker surprisingly is not of the health benefits experienced, not even its calming effect on the senses but the clarity of thoughts one experiences in that hour. Unblemished by the negative voices (of our own and those of others)which we often succumb to, this time of the day lends a positive aura to every idea and every thought conceived. You will never find anyone returning morose and grouchy from a good morning walk.
My kids are aware the first hour in the morning “it is my time of the day, my time alone”. I am very particular about not letting housework or kids work, take up that time. It’s the time of the day where with great clarity I am able to plan my work, my studies, and my personal life
One thing I learned early on in life is that you and YOU alone are accountable for your life and the direction it takes. While we have no control over situations or what others say and do to us, we certainly can change ourselves, our attitude, our habits, and our choices. Time flies fast. If we desire change in any way in our personal lives now is the time to initiate it. You don’t want to be caught later saying I was busy and life just passed by.
Never catching up !
I used to often see myself (metaphorically of course) racing against the hands of a clock, always running never really reaching anywhere. Oh! how many hours I have lamented on the workload which keeps piling; work front.. home front and of course mommy front. Is there no way out? When will I take a break? when will I do the things I actually want for myself? Maybe next time…
So fast forward 20 yrs. Kids are settled, me retired from the job, and not much work at home. I am finally free. But alas my age and my health do not allow me to do all those things I yearned for, in my younger days. I realize with a numbing sadness, while I was busy… Life just passed by…
Dreams
How many of us have dreams the one we see with our eyes wide open? The one which allows us an escape from reality every once in a while. I guess most of us do. Now how many of us are able to fulfill them? Handful. Why so? Reasons could be million but, largely cause our present life situation has tied us down and we have given up on our dreams even before we made an honest attempt.
Most of us (men and women alike) get so caught up in the rut of life that we seldom realize how days become months and months become years. There is a reason why all of us see our childhood and college days as the best days of our lives. The unhurried self, which enjoyed its time, which was optimistic about the future which believed in dreams.
Do dreams come true? Are they just stuff of inspirational novels and books? Think about it, what sets man at the top of nature’s hierarchy? It’s his intelligence to assess situations, plan and execute accordingly. Dreams do come true provided every single living moment is spent in pursuing it. I have come to realize that, no one will walk into your life and hand it (dream) over to you gift wrapped. Seldom do other people help you to realize your dreams. It’s you and you alone in the equation. Blaming others, life, family, office, etc for your failure is very easy. Getting caught up in self-pity is most damaging to one’s self-esteem. It snares you for sure. Beware!
Time draught
We each have 24hrs in a day. Still, we find ourselves often playing catch with the pending workload on the weekend. I myself have been often accused of not keeping in touch, not replying to messages, not committing to group activities, not returning house calls. My one-liner “I am busy”. Ouch! guilty as charged.
The key is prioritization and sticking to a schedule. The choice is ours what we do with our time. We often tend to cram in too many activities and end up not doing any of them well. To squeeze in a drop of “me time” seems near impossible. Yet, without giving ourselves and our dreams the gift of time we will end up saying “life just passed by and I did nothing”. Recently for my daughter’s bday, I spent two whole days whipping up her dream cake. The smile on her face was worth it. For a novice like me, it was a lesson well learned if you need excellence you got to put in the hard work.
It’s difficult but...
I tell my kids, to be mediocre or par excellence is a choice WE make. But what goes with hard choice is harder work. Patience and dedication, humility and zest. From losing a few kilos of weight to pursuing higher education, from starting your business to giving up smoking. All are small and big goals, nevertheless significant ones for that individual. Are you looking for excuses or are you looking for ways to fulfill.
To absolutely stop comparing ourselves and our lives with those of others is a great liberation of sorts. Aren’t we all on a unique path of our own? Why do we measure up our success against those of others? Our batchmates, our colleagues, our cousins, aren’t they having a life and upbringing, experiences and failures different from us. Isn’t that what molds our personality and ultimately our choices. Then why compare? Each star in the sky charters its own path.
A life lived in the pursuit of dreams is worthy of its weight in gold.
So time is now. Right now! Not next week or after this big project or after that family function. No excuse! Now my dear NOW.
Get up, plan and move. Inch by inch the worm made it to the apple. And what a delicious apple it was…
Adios
hey! drop in a message to me if you liked it and share with those who you believe will get inspired reading this.
Very well penned thoughts of PERSONAL DECISION…prompts to introspect
Loved it Sonu.I liked how you wrote about holding ourselves accountable and not blaming lost dreams on outside circumstances all the time. A good blog to ponder up.
Good one Sonu. I totally agree that our life is in our hands. Hope to put these wise words into practice NOW! 😊
Thanks I do hope all of us are able to realize that we can steer our lives the way we want
So true, we only end up blaming circumstances, we stay sad only due to comparisons. Each one has to circumspect, change however smaller it is and live a better happy life
Yes Dr Prasad.. You will agree Comparison kills the joy of individuality. Thanks for sharing your thought
Good one Sonu very much inspiring blog with beautiful words👌👌 I agree our life is in our hands we should make it wonderful by ourselves ❤️😊
Thank you rekha.
Very well penned Sonia.Its very important to have me time as u said. Definitely will try to implement here onwards.thank you for inspiring our lives.keep walking.
Thanks a ton fathima
Good one again. Glad you are able to keep up with walking and blogging. Proud of you.
Loved this “ A life lived in the pursuit of dreams is worthy of its weight in gold.”
Love
Suni
Yes any goal big or small makes you feel alive and gives purpose to our lives.
Very true.. nicely put up 🙂 I think we are so tied up in chasing our materialistic dreams that we don’t get time to think what is eventually needed in end for a happy and peaceful life.
You are right on the spot with that. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Good work…
Very nice Sonia….. true…we need that “me time” to know about ourselves….our strengths and weakness….it’s NOW we react….. great going…. waiting for few more…. 👍🙏👌
Hey thanks a lot for the message. Appreciate it.
An inspiring post undoubtedly !!! I relate to every bit of it… the morning walks and the me time. Life is a beautiful journey and its upto us to realize this fact and live it to the fullest. Thanks for the positivity.
Thank you so much mam.. You live by example.. I know that.
Well written Sonia. So true that planning is very important to prioritise our tasks so that we are able to complete them. Also, to make our dreams come true…
I totally relate to what you wrote and it was so nice to read it…
Thanks radhika.. Dreams are just figment of our imagination until they mix with sweat and blood and then they are a reality.. Sweet success
👌👌👍👍food for thought..especially after the covid times we have learnt what is important.. your wrtting style is superb,simple but clear thoughts😍😍
Thank you so much reshma for always being so supportive
Nice write-up. Very thought-provoking. You’ve touched upon a very nice topic. Quite often we are quick to blame our circumstances and find reasons so easily to justify our failures and short-comings, not realizing that the truth is that many a times we do possess the power to shape our own destiny. Without trying to sound too philosophical, I do believe that in many ways fate and destiny, though similar are also 2 different things. We do have it in us to be the masters of our own destiny.
What I took home from your message is that… We should have some “me-time” to ourselves and do some soul-searching once in a while. It changes our perspectives about a lot of things. Time to go for morning walks. Thanks for the motivation Sonu.
So true.. Each of us will have to introspect and figure out. I suppose we all know where we want to be it’s the path which is not clear.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Being positive along with short term goals are importnat for achieving self improvemnent. loved the article…
Thanks sameena
Very much true Sonia . Dreams do come true as long as they are pursued with hard work and zeal! Over the years what I have realized is that once a certain dream becomes a reality there is always another dream right behind to be pursued 😊
That is what makes this life interesting ..
Keep walking and continue to pen your thoughts👍
Good morning!! A powerful message that I can totally relate to! Life is short and ultimately only we are responsible for the (sometimes difficult) choices we make along the way!
Every season of life imposes its own decisions which need to be acknowledged, the challenge is to be aware of that fact and not to get stuck in that wheel indefinitely! Thank you for that article! I really enjoyed reading it and could totally relate to it 🙏🏻
Sonia…a great work up encapsulating the essence of time and life.. You were ups are inspiring… Thought provoking and a pleasure to read .. Please give us more .
.I would also add… To be happy is our own and only our own responsibility… You have to create the happiness you deserve.. No one will give it to you.
There is another bit I wanted to chip in with….. There is no happiness if the temple of your mind or your body is not in shape… So do invest alongside everything else, in your physical health… The day we become useless to the society…. No matter what you think how close people are… Your share value in the social market starts dipping… And it never ends. Till you start again in the cycle of life.
Thanks again … Be happy.. Be healthy
A very meaningful and motivating blogbpost.With some really good points to ponder on. Really appreciate this write up Sona.Thanks for sharing 👏👏
For sure Dr anil I completely agree. For dreams to come alive our mental and physical health go hand in hand. Thanks for your response
As always very meaningful writeup 👍 Sonu, definitely thought provoking & self introspecting 🤗, thanks a lot for sharing 😊