Wow, four posts in a row? What is this, a daily blog?
First off, a good Christmas Eve to you all. Enjoy the long weekend (at the minimum).
More self-introspection and learning is coming your way, so don’t read further if you’re not interested in that kind of thing.
Find Time For Things You Like
The Why?
To answer this, we’re back to what affected my life the most in the past few years. I joined Law School. I joined committees, started internships, and ended up volunteering for a bunch of projects. All because I enjoyed the opportunities they provided and loved the potential they showed. I was excited to be involved and excited to contribute.
A very wise senior once told me that being in committees, and being on a residential campus sucked the life out of you, because you’d get handed work at any point of time in the day. And reflecting upon years at the University, you’d find that every bit of work you did, every single day: whether it was classes, committees, sports – tied back to the University.
This got me thinking: who was I outside of Law School? What was I outside of the Law?
I don’t gel well with people whose only interest is their work. I love people who are passionate about their work (especially because work doesn’t feel like work, then), but I dislike it when all conversation surrounds work. As a kid, I looked at adults who spoke about sales at informal parties, and scoffed. I would never do that, I told myself.
Yet, when I hung out with my friends in Bangalore, I’d get asked, “how is college?”, and slip into an endless monologue about my moot problem, the debates I’d been to, and such.
I stopped watching TV shows or movies. I YouTubed things because life was faster that way.
That had to change.
The What?
I really wanted to watch TV again. And I wanted to watch sports again. And I wanted to write again. And play the piano again.
I wanted to go back to doing everything I did as a kid, with the limitations my work provided me.
The How?
One hour for myself. Every single day. I had to remove myself from the University atmosphere, and do something 12th Grade Tejas would’ve done: play FIFA, surf the Internet, keep up with pop culture, watch movies, watch a TV Show, download music, play the piano, play basketball.
I couldn’t repeat activities. Everything would be once a week.
The Review
I’d give myself a 6/10 for this. There were too many days that this didn’t happen. Especially because I was reading everyday, I couldn’t count my reading as the “one hour for Tejas” for that particular day. I had to do something else. Which became really tough. I also didn’t watch any shows when University was ongoing, but I did end up reading a lot of comics/manga/webtoons this year.
I did also, get back to the Piano.
And I taught myself a little Dutch.
This was the toughest challenge of them all, because I realized that I’d have to become super efficient with work that I took on, or discard the work in its entirety – a thought I couldn’t fathom. Letting go of work is tough, because I always feel like I’m letting someone down when I say no to contributing to a project they’re leading up.
But it was good. I rediscovered my form a little. And that was a pleasurable experience. On good days, I even got to watch some Test Cricket, and I could follow the Ranji Trophy again.
On the best days, I’d watch my football games, keep up with scores and chat with friends about the matches, and even get to watch the Formula One I so enjoy.
Taking time off, for yourself, is the greatest gift, I think you can give yourself.
Make time for the things you enjoy. And go on to enjoy them.
On that note, I should make time for some sleep.
More tomorrow!
Tejas Rao 