19th November 2017 – I am a quarter century old today ! I was pretty much excited for my 25th birthday. My entire year went awesome; explored new places, made new friends, discarded some toxic people from my life and spent a lot of time with nature and myself. I wanted my 25th birthday to be a different experience, not regular partying and dinner scenes. Wanted to disconnect and be with nature, see the sunset, sunrise, and the night sky. So I booked star gazing camping with a travel group, at a village where there would be hardly any network. I was almost reaching the base railway station of the campsite (Asangaon), and I get a call from my mother that my grandmother passed away. I returned home to support my family. I had spent almost 6 hours in train continuously , had a very bad headache too. But I had to be strong, I did not even shed a tear in front of my mom or dad. My sinus triggered due to train commute and stress. My birthday eve and weekend was not at all close to what I had planned, but how does it matter ? You need to be there when your family needs you. 

My birthday overall went good, I disconnected myself, no calls at 12 am, as anyway had to get up early as mom had early morning flight. I watched the sunrise, had a good breakfast and my close friends came over to my place to cheer me up and took me out for sometime. 

I took the time to reflect, and jotted down 25 lessons I have learned so far; 25 lessons learnt documented on my 25th birthday :

1. Not everything will go as per your plan, accept it , life is full of uncertainties, be prepared for everything
2. You and only you are responsible for your happiness, there are external factors, but peace of mind is an internal job
3. Laugh and smile often, makes you forget everything for that moment
4. Manage your finances well, you never know when you may need surplus money
5. Live in the moment
6. Don’t postpone things and happiness for a later time unless necessary
7. Waking up before the sunrise leads to a very positive day , gives immense energy and even some quality me-time
8. Face your fears, small steps at a time, but do face them, may or may not conquer
9. Distance and Duration of friendship doesn’t make it strong or weak. It all depends on the connection between two true selves.
10. Spend time doing something you love, as much and whenever possible, it refreshes you
11. Stay away from toxic people and negative sources, automatically focus on oneself would be more.
12. Take care of your health, nothing is worth compromising your health
13. Follow your heart, don’t seek too much advice from outside, everyone has a different path and outlook.
14. Document experiences, whenever possible, a good way to reflect on your experience, positive or negative.
15. Respect every opinion
16. Let things go
17. Your family will always support you , and want the best for you
18. Love yourself, always be there for yourself.
19. There are some people who always want you to stay happy and smiling, Treasure them
20. You cannot please everyone, and even trying that is merely waste of time
21. Not having any expectations from anyone is the simplest formula for happiness
22. No point in stressing about things which are beyond your control
23. Don’t create mental blocks for anything
24. Never say no to any new opportunity, even if it seems challenging 
25. Travel as much as you can, we were born nomads, and not meant to be in one place forever

Straight From My Heart, 

Prakriti