So many things happened last year, and yet I did not even manage my yearly accounting. Not that I was so busy, that I could not write a few lines, but I guess for me the real question was what do I really want to say to the world and why do I want to do that?
Maybe I just did not have an inspiring enough story to tell, but at the same time, I also felt myself recoiling a bit with the whole new level of PDA (Public Display of Achievements) that happen these days.
Do I really want to list my achievements, or the number of heart breaks or simply the top ten lessons learnt this year on this blog? In a way, you can say that I have been rethinking my idea of summarising and examining the year gone by.
A conversation with a friend made me realise that it is very easy or us to fall prey to the ultimate number game. It starts off at a young age as 'How many toys do you have?', 'What percentage did you get in 10th std board exams?' and continues through adolescence as 'How many girl/boy friends did you have?' and as a grown up you hear 'How much do you get paid?, 'How many kids do you have?', 'How many cars do you have?', 'How many houses do you own?', 'How big is your television?' or even sometimes 'How many 'likes' do you get on your Facebook profile?'
It is as if all these numbers add up to the grand total of being the individuals that we are.
But do we really need to measure our success and failures by counting the rungs of ladder that we have climbed? Is it possible that the numbers are simply encouraging a mindless comparison between different people, some of whom would otherwise be perfectly happy with less but are now miserable since others around them have more? Moreover, can there be a single number which satisfy all the different kinds of people? [To all my sci-fi loving friends, please don't say 42!]
I want to think that there is a state of mind which is so pure and resonant with our inner self, that when we achieve it, we can revel in simply being ourselves, without the need for a pat on our back, without the need to justify, and most importantly without having to measure the feeling and adding a price tag to it. But I also know that it takes great mental strength and conviction to achieve this state of mind.
Perhaps one way would be to have regular honest conversations with yourself. To try and periodically disconnect and isolate yourself from your immediate surrounding so that it gives you an idea of who you really are.
But I am sure there are other ways that you guys have figured out. I would love to know alternative views and if at all any of you have suffered from the pressure of keeping up with the numbers, especially when it does not quite result in the contentment that we all hope for. What did you do? How did you stop counting?
Maybe I just did not have an inspiring enough story to tell, but at the same time, I also felt myself recoiling a bit with the whole new level of PDA (Public Display of Achievements) that happen these days.
Do I really want to list my achievements, or the number of heart breaks or simply the top ten lessons learnt this year on this blog? In a way, you can say that I have been rethinking my idea of summarising and examining the year gone by.
A conversation with a friend made me realise that it is very easy or us to fall prey to the ultimate number game. It starts off at a young age as 'How many toys do you have?', 'What percentage did you get in 10th std board exams?' and continues through adolescence as 'How many girl/boy friends did you have?' and as a grown up you hear 'How much do you get paid?, 'How many kids do you have?', 'How many cars do you have?', 'How many houses do you own?', 'How big is your television?' or even sometimes 'How many 'likes' do you get on your Facebook profile?'
It is as if all these numbers add up to the grand total of being the individuals that we are.
But do we really need to measure our success and failures by counting the rungs of ladder that we have climbed? Is it possible that the numbers are simply encouraging a mindless comparison between different people, some of whom would otherwise be perfectly happy with less but are now miserable since others around them have more? Moreover, can there be a single number which satisfy all the different kinds of people? [To all my sci-fi loving friends, please don't say 42!]
I want to think that there is a state of mind which is so pure and resonant with our inner self, that when we achieve it, we can revel in simply being ourselves, without the need for a pat on our back, without the need to justify, and most importantly without having to measure the feeling and adding a price tag to it. But I also know that it takes great mental strength and conviction to achieve this state of mind.
Perhaps one way would be to have regular honest conversations with yourself. To try and periodically disconnect and isolate yourself from your immediate surrounding so that it gives you an idea of who you really are.
But I am sure there are other ways that you guys have figured out. I would love to know alternative views and if at all any of you have suffered from the pressure of keeping up with the numbers, especially when it does not quite result in the contentment that we all hope for. What did you do? How did you stop counting?
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