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