It’s 10:32 p.m. I’ve successfully spent an hour switching tabs, talking to a friend, and denying the fact that I only can do some reading + writing right now. So, I’m here.
Yesterday, I decided to finally write every day. Even especially on days that I hate what I write. Couldn’t do it this morning. So, now.
I had a weird day. Slipped out of my hand. Some very nice moments, some not so nice. And when I was telling AK about it, she reminded me of this quote from Morgan Housel’s Same As Ever that goes something like, “How do you plan on becoming a CEO if you can’t handle the small inefficiencies of life?” and I thought, damn. That’s all. Today was a small inefficiency. I can acknowledge it and move on.
In another context and conversation with SG, he told me about reactions and feelings. The idea was to essentially NOT qualify actions as emotions. If I’ve got cramps, I could do two things: feel the pain + be miserable about it OR feel the pain, acknowledge it, and stop there. Sometimes, I’d find a solution. Sometimes, I’d not. Another example – if someone’s rude to me, I can’t control it. But I can control how I qualify. Get upset about it OR simply register it as rudeness and stop there.
I’ve always struggled to snap out of suffering. I tend to let emotions linger. Now, everytime I do, I know what to go back to. And how to feel okay about things. So, that.
I went to the beach today. Each time I go after a mini break, my brain goes “fuck, I had forgotten how good this feels”. It’s funny. I lived in Chennai. There was a beach. But it wasn’t close to home. So I didn’t spend as much time as I would’ve liked to. And people would say that I’d get bored if I had easy access to it. Now, after 2 months of watching sunsets, I can confirm I will NEVER get bored of this sight. The sky is different each day. The air never fails to warm my heart. The sight never gets old. And there’s a new energy every time.
I think I’ve felt similarly about Bangalore’s weather. At one of the meetups (VJ), I met someone who told me he had lived in the city for 13 years, and his love for the weather never weared off. Each breeze still feels like the first. Still warms his heart. And he weren’t even a romantic.
[Random thoughts distracting me from writing about my day –]
- KS got a promotion. SO happy for him. I will call him over the weekend to find out what. And catch up.
- I LOVE the evening lights in my home. I’ve hung the tiny warm-white ball light thingie SG got me.
I added a new goal to my list this year – to get better at design.
I’m not a designer. May not ever be too. I mean, I don’t think I will sit down to learn each tool on softwares like Photoshop. But, design is important. It’s at the core of everything I do and will build. So, I’ve been asking people how to get started. A few things on my list –
1/ Actively spend time looking at graphic designs and trying to decode those
2/ Watch people (experts) decode design. Observe their observations and questions
3/ Learn the rules. And, watch people break those rules
We discussed this at the beach today. Talked about taste and design. SG told us how he sees it.
In the world, there are some universal truths. Take clothes, for instance. A pair of blue jeans and a crisp white shirt will never be questioned. We’ve collectively approved it. With food, for example, McDonalds is for the masses; made based on some widely accepted principles. But a chef’s special asparagus is not.
The starting point is to identify things that are universal. And then observe the context. So, that.
Oh I wrote a LinkedIn post about this, obviously.
More tomorrow.
– Home, Mumbai, Feb 22, 2024