My List

Inspired by Ajju’s blog, a few shards of wisdom I can give myself, to look back to when I need it. plus, thinking gives my head a much-needed break from feeling. lol. In the randomest ever order- exactly how the thoughts made their way into my head.

1. Everyone has an ego. You need to have an ego, but keep it in check. Don’t let there be another lost friend in your life that you will have to regret losing.
2. Be accepting of other people and their truths. Maybe someone’s account of the past two years had no space for you. But come to think of it, your account would leave out qute a few people too.
3. Never make someone too powerful in your life. Each of us has someone to love at some point in their lives. Their presence makes the world a whole lot more beautiful, but their absence should not make your world shatter.
4. Laugh every now and then. No matter what the circumstances, there’s at least one thing in the world to smile about.
5. Remember that you can find very special people when you least expect to. Be open to people.
6. Make time for your friends. Care to keep in touch. Don’t let one person replace another important person in your life.
7. Don’t try too hard though. Don’t decieve yourself about what you mean to certain people. If they don’t care, let them go. It’s painful but less painful than holding on to someone despite their wishes.
8. Everyone has a past. Everyone has things about their past that they still rejoice. Let them celebrate it. Don’t expect them to cage their feelings.
9. Love yourself, but don’t let your narcissism make you seem stuck-up.
10. When someone asks you to make a choice between them and something else that you love, NEVER chose that person. If he/she has the heart to make you chose between two things you love, he/she doesn’t love you.
11. Don’t ditch your family for anyone. (Unless they’re the ones asking you to make that difficult choice in the previous point.) Blood is not always thicker than water, but your family most probably loves you a lot.
12. Read a lot. Sanjog Dai put it in a very beautiful way- other people’s stories are what inspire you, so learn from them. Be perceptive.
13. Write your diary always. Reading it later reminds you of who you used to be, and you can learn and relearn lessons from your own life.
14. Eat healthy and sleep well. You need a healthy body to think well.
15. Be yourself. If anyone asks you to change yourself, that person is not worth the trouble. I read somewhere that if you love someone you’d be willing to change for them, but if the person loved you, he/she would never ask you to. Remember that. And don’t EVER EVER ask anyone to change themselves.
16. Remember that not everyone is watching you. People don’t really care. You are just one amongst the more than six billion people on the planet. Only very few people are waiting to judge you, the rest don’t care. Do what you want to do. No fears.
17. Despite being just ONE of the 6,000,000,000 people on earth, you CAN make a difference. Do what you can to pay back for what your family and your society have given you.
18. Don’t be afraid of solitude. Solitude and lonliness are two different things. Solitude gives you space to think. Enjoy your own company once in a while (but don’t be a loner.)
19. Remember that people you love (or people you couldn’t care less about) will hurt you and judge you and shit. This too shall pass. And anyway, it’s more important how you judge yourself.
20. Last but not the least, remember to keep your feet on the ground even when you’re flying high. (Preet wrote this very beautifully somewhere when we were young.)

It’s time to head off to college, and I think I need these tips the most at this point in life, just so that I don’t become overwhelmed and lose track. plus, it was fun writing these tips. A process of reflection, because alhough these things came into my head automatically once I got started, these things are also what I value most in life- my guidelines, say, and some of them had been nearly-forgotten.