Is 30 the new 40 or the new 20?
I posted this write-up on living on the other side of your 30s a few days back. Two things happened after I wrote that post.
The opening line of that post was '30 is the new 40'! Quite an emphatic statement. As soon as he read it, my husband's first reaction was "Why? Why 40? Why not '30 is the new 20'?!"
And then I read about this brilliant tweet yesterday that has gone viral the world over.
And she received thousands of public responses of people in their 30s or older doing phenomenal stuff. For instance, a 47-year-old mother of four who published her first book at age 45 and has now started law school. Or about the girl who mentioned her 96-year-old friend who did an archaeological dig at age 75. You can read more instances and the entire article here.
Both of these incidents made me think more about everything that I wrote and only served to drive the point home harder that 'Age is after all just a number'! It also made me think about an even earlier post I made as part of this 30 days blog marathon on the choices that we make in life (that you can read here). How we choose to let our age inspire or impede us is entirely upto us.
Yes, there are going to be lifestyle changes, physical changes, hormonal changes, career-related changes - all of which are, if you think about it, are very much in our control.
So, 30 is the new 20, indeed!!
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Bare necessities
Again, I'm writing some afterthoughts on my recent post on need vs want which you can read here.
A comment on that post by my dear mum made me think some more. I realised that 'needs' or 'wants' are just names or excuses that we give! It's simple - if your happiness is so dependent on something, you'll convince yourself that it's a need and make your entire existence about that one thing! That's probably the reason why what is a need for one is only a want for another (if at all) and vice versa.
But if you are contented with what you have, needs and wants are quite meaningless for you because you revel in the present moment.
You realise, rightly so, that if something is truly meant for you, it'll find its way to you at the right time and in the right manner! You basically have everything you 'need' and anything additional is a 'want'!
No written word summarises this better than the song from Jungle Book (a childhood favourite that still ranks up there!). The below lines from the song are my personal favourite!
If you act like that bee acts uh uh
You're working too hard
And don't spend your time lookin' around
For something you want that can't be found
When you find out you can live without it
and go along not thinkin' about it
I'll tell you something true
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you!
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life!
You can read the entire lyrics of the song here if you want to.
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Onion theory of resistance!
(Note to vigilantes and researchers: this is not an actual theory!)
Around Nov-Dec 2019 in Mumbai, the prices of onions went up drastically due to heavy monsoons and low production. The price went up by nearly 400% before starting to return to normal more recently.
During that period, this WhatsApp forward went viral.
While the demand supply theory is definitely true, the origins of the forward and the existence of such a Japanese practice is not known.
The funny thing is, irrespective of such a tradition existing or not, by sheer domestic middle-class logic, you start valuing the expensive ingredient, in this case onion, more and using it a lot more sparingly! If you can replace onions in a dish, you do. And bhindi-do-pyaza just became so much dearer!
Anyway, prices have a way of regulating themselves in a society because of the dominant forces of demand and supply but discussing that is not the intent of this post!
I was thinking this can be applied to other aspects of life, such as -
a) If something is bothering you too much and it is not something you can change or help, then consciously shun the thought for some days. Don't pay it any heed. See if it becomes less persistent or non-existent that way!
b) If you feel that someone in your life is demanding too much of your energy (unless they are important to you and/or incapable of having a meaningful conversation with), whether physical, mental or emotional - avoid them for a few days. Do a 'network detox' every now and then and get away from people that are too expensive for you to spend your time on (because you know, time is money!). And then when you're back, maybe they'll expect less!
c) This also works wonderfully well for diets because if you like something that's unhealthy too much, give it up for sometime so you can value it more when you actually get to eat it! And while you're at it, if you need any help forming a new habit (including a diet), go read my yesterday's post!
Basically, anything that is draining you too much physically, emotionally or mentally should be put on a detox!
Let me know if my onion theory of resistance can be applied elsewhere according to you!
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New post tomorrow! Just two days of this blogathon to go - who'd have thought I'd make it through this challenge?!!
