In quest of a 'real' new year...
In a mood to reflect… at a time apt for reflecting… on a blog that is called
Reflections…
On a dark, chilly evening today… trying to put some meaning to the chaos that is mind… with distractions around, phone buzzing, messages pinging, thoughts flowing in multiple streams one after the other, distinct from each other, yet intermingled… thoughts of plans not achieved, of pending tasks, of opportunities missed, of mistakes made… mind wanting to steer clear of these, so it can make plans for next year, think interests to be pursued, of choices to be made… to add to the chaos is this Facebook and Whatsapp which is belting out ‘themes’, ‘resolutions’, ‘dos n dont's, ‘pledges’ for the coming year.. from all and sundry…
Each resolution seems convincing, necessary and applicable to me… so
much so that I actually sat down to make a list of to-dos for myself which I
would put up on a chart and hang on the bedroom mirror to be reminded everyday…
the list began with improving fitness levels (an annual resolution that gets
diligently carried forward to next year) and went on to include ‘pursue a
passion’, ‘read and write more often’, ‘plan for dedicated family time’, ‘see a
new place every month’, ‘put a structure and pattern to work’, ‘be patient with
kids’ and so on… the list was already getting too long, to cover up the entire
mirror and remind me everyday how incomplete a life I live… so I decided to move
a few items from to-dos to a wish-list for now… like ‘learn to say NO’, ‘get
more me-time’, ‘learn a new art-form’, ‘meet friends often’, ‘participate in
some competition’, ‘get adequate sleep’… and then there was this point of ‘reduce
time spent on social media’ where I paused… was this a to-do or a wish-list?
This one point itself, was a massive resolve I felt… If this gets achieved, many of the others will be accomplished automatically… the Facebook, the Whatsapp, the twitter, the chats, all of them collectively, even if put on ‘mute’, continue to overpower our time, infact our life (ok, my time and my life)… this needs to stop, if there is any bit of inclination to achieve even 10% of the longer wish-list, this submission to social media needs to stop… or maybe reduced (let me be less harsh on myself)…
Reminds me of a phrase that my brother introduced me to, few months back – ‘virtual death’… that’s an extreme where you delete your virtual/digital/social (media) presence completely… and live a peaceful life thereafter… I am not sure I can manage to do that… ok let me admit it, I can never do that… the disease has spread too deep and is in advanced stages, to be cured… but yes there is a dire need to curb the spread further… so that be it, it has atleast set me thinking in one direction and de-condense the mind of all chaos…
In quest of a real new year, I have found that one single, high-impact, nerve-wrecking, mind-testing resolution that I ‘need to’ make for next year… to reduce virtual, live in real… Am I actually doing it? Wait, don’t I need to weigh the pros and cons before taking such a ‘huge’ plunge?? but what the heck, one of the items in the wish-list also was ‘do things by getting out of comfort zone’… so yes, I do resolve to ‘reduce’ (not delete) my virtual presence… yes, I will run a ‘risk’ of not knowing whats happening in the world around me, not being up-to-date on my ‘friends’’ activities and achievements, not being part of (virtual) celebrations and initiatives, not being able to share my life moments with the world in real-time, of being tagged as a ‘recluse’ or ‘uncool’ or ‘unsocial’… but am hoping the list of what I will be able to do in real world will be longer… and the list of ‘resolutions’ same time next year will be shorter because I would have achieved better part of the wish-list by then…
On a dark, chilly evening today… trying to put some meaning to the chaos that is mind… with distractions around, phone buzzing, messages pinging, thoughts flowing in multiple streams one after the other, distinct from each other, yet intermingled… thoughts of plans not achieved, of pending tasks, of opportunities missed, of mistakes made… mind wanting to steer clear of these, so it can make plans for next year, think interests to be pursued, of choices to be made… to add to the chaos is this Facebook and Whatsapp which is belting out ‘themes’, ‘resolutions’, ‘dos n dont's, ‘pledges’ for the coming year.. from all and sundry…
Each resolution seems convincing, necessary and applicable to me… so
much so that I actually sat down to make a list of to-dos for myself which I
would put up on a chart and hang on the bedroom mirror to be reminded everyday…
the list began with improving fitness levels (an annual resolution that gets
diligently carried forward to next year) and went on to include ‘pursue a
passion’, ‘read and write more often’, ‘plan for dedicated family time’, ‘see a
new place every month’, ‘put a structure and pattern to work’, ‘be patient with
kids’ and so on… the list was already getting too long, to cover up the entire
mirror and remind me everyday how incomplete a life I live… so I decided to move
a few items from to-dos to a wish-list for now… like ‘learn to say NO’, ‘get
more me-time’, ‘learn a new art-form’, ‘meet friends often’, ‘participate in
some competition’, ‘get adequate sleep’… and then there was this point of ‘reduce
time spent on social media’ where I paused… was this a to-do or a wish-list?This one point itself, was a massive resolve I felt… If this gets achieved, many of the others will be accomplished automatically… the Facebook, the Whatsapp, the twitter, the chats, all of them collectively, even if put on ‘mute’, continue to overpower our time, infact our life (ok, my time and my life)… this needs to stop, if there is any bit of inclination to achieve even 10% of the longer wish-list, this submission to social media needs to stop… or maybe reduced (let me be less harsh on myself)…
Reminds me of a phrase that my brother introduced me to, few months back – ‘virtual death’… that’s an extreme where you delete your virtual/digital/social (media) presence completely… and live a peaceful life thereafter… I am not sure I can manage to do that… ok let me admit it, I can never do that… the disease has spread too deep and is in advanced stages, to be cured… but yes there is a dire need to curb the spread further… so that be it, it has atleast set me thinking in one direction and de-condense the mind of all chaos…
In quest of a real new year, I have found that one single, high-impact, nerve-wrecking, mind-testing resolution that I ‘need to’ make for next year… to reduce virtual, live in real… Am I actually doing it? Wait, don’t I need to weigh the pros and cons before taking such a ‘huge’ plunge?? but what the heck, one of the items in the wish-list also was ‘do things by getting out of comfort zone’… so yes, I do resolve to ‘reduce’ (not delete) my virtual presence… yes, I will run a ‘risk’ of not knowing whats happening in the world around me, not being up-to-date on my ‘friends’’ activities and achievements, not being part of (virtual) celebrations and initiatives, not being able to share my life moments with the world in real-time, of being tagged as a ‘recluse’ or ‘uncool’ or ‘unsocial’… but am hoping the list of what I will be able to do in real world will be longer… and the list of ‘resolutions’ same time next year will be shorter because I would have achieved better part of the wish-list by then…
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