All the Different You's

It's so interesting to observe the 'you' you are now compared to you a few years ago.

Growing up, spicy food was an integral part of life. The more fiery, the better. Our family had a pretty high threshold for hot food compared to our relatives who were often left surprised at the amount of heat in our meals. I remember our family as being right up there with, or perhaps just a couple notches below the spiciest-food lovers in our region who enjoyed Andhra cuisine  - a cuisine well known for its ability to set your mouth aflame. Back then, I could barely imagine eating more than one meal in a day that was bland in taste. Now, I cannot eat more than a few morsels of food that are as hot as the food I grew up eating.

Today, what I would have considered mildly-spiced food, set the insides of my stomach on fire. This stomach-in-flames feeling is not entirely new to me. I've experienced it when I ate food that exceeded the already high levels of heat I was used to in my growing-up years. However, I had a far higher tolerance for that burn too. I could go about my daily chores and be functional despite the discomfort. 

Now, all I could think of was a way for someone to use a fire extinguisher in my stomach to put out the blaze immediately! My mind knew that I got through a lot worse than the current situation; that I have it in me to get through this one too. But, something in me didn't want to do it anymore.

I attribute this change to a couple of things. First, as I've gotten older, I've found I've begun having a lower tolerance for s*** in life, in general. (My writing too is undergoing change - I now incorporate profanity when earlier there was none!). Second, life is all about perception. Maybe in that cocooned world of my earlier life, my limited life experiences placed the spice level I was used to at the top of the spicy-food hierarchy. Now, having travelled about and experienced more - maybe the perception of having grown up eating really hot foods was just that, a perception. Maybe I always only ate medium-spiced food all the while thinking that my palette was used to and could brave highly-spiced food.

Well, my changing palette makes me love the fact that I'm having it all. I experienced one end of the food spectrum and I now I get to experience the other. 

Mamma Mia

It was the most glorious time today, watching Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again with Mom. Such a carefree vacation! The theatre was mostly empty. Other patrons were family people just like us - a retired Mom and daughter and retired couples. One kind patron, Angel, thanked us for sharing the viewing experience with her. We oooh-ed and aaah-ed together after the movie, delighting at the beautiful scenery, pretty clothes and timeless Abba music. She told me to make sure I took my Mom out for further expeditions. Her daughter does the same for her and she said, “you young people are the ones to take us out.” Mom liked that she gave me her dua, “God bless you.” 

There were times through the movie when the audience in the theatre erupted into joyful clapping. It was an audience that had assembled together ready and open to be moved to exuberant highs and low lows. 

Oh! It was all so glorious. 

It’s the simplest of days doing simple things that bring the most pleasure. 

Family

The older I get and the farther away I am from them, the more I value family.

For the first time in a long, long time - some seven years - the majority of my family got to spend some time together. It was good, it felt like the cliched 'old times'. Family brings so much variety to life, to the dinner table, to shopping experiences and to perspectives.

It's a good summer. There's sun, warmth - or, heat, maybe! - food, family and, I feel like getting back to writing again. I've found that my writing impulses are triggered most during phases of life when I feel emotion stronger than usual. This summer, my heart's soaring.

Shukrana.

The Non-Facebook Post #131

Sometimes, it's just 30 minutes to get past.

Sometimes, it's 90-second intervals of those 30 minutes to make it through.

Sometimes, it's 'just-5-more-reps' in one 90-second interval of those 30 minutes.

Those 'sometimes' can be days when a 15-second crescent lunge can be your Mount Everest.

Those 'sometimes' can be days when you have to push yourself to make it through the smallest unit of time-activity you can break your scaling of that peak down to - one second of one 90-second interval of that 30-minute period. One baby step at a time. 

As gruelling as those baby steps are to accomplish, in the grand scheme of things, they add up, don't they? They are what make that grand scheme materialize.

So, for taking that tiny step towards becoming better tomorrow than you are today, give yourself a pat on the back. Because, the only person who will always root for you is you.

You did it, Fra!

The Non-Facebook Post #130

So, the best laid schemes of mice an' men, gang aft a-gley. 

What will ya do?

Take a step back, take it slow. Things change, people change. 

Decide if you want to allow that for you or not.

Facts are great but feelings matter too. 

And, be optimistic.

It's one life, you might as well enjoy it.

I

”You’ve fought many fights, you’ve come such a long way to preserve and protect you.
Be you.”  - one of my North Stars

Plurality, Always

No, this month is not going to have one singular post. Because that would mean that my growth has been static. It has not, though. And that's why, here's another post. To mark life happening in the background, even as other events take place. Life - all the many layers that make it up - are running concurrently. And the growth, learning and wisdom now dictate that balancing all of life's intricacies is the right thing to do.

Here's balancing all of life's concurrencies.

'Focus on what's important to you, and the rest will fall into place.' - Netflix's Reality High.

'Kismat mein jinki milna hai, woh kis tarah bhi mil jaye' and, 'sochna kya, jo bhi hoga dekha jaayega.'