Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 10
November 8, 2022
Word of the Week #345:
Of all the things I need to learn and haven’t yet, one of the biggest is learning when to stop.
It is so clear that I have no idea when to stop.
How do I handle that?
I just don’t stop.
November 1, 2022
Word of the Week #344:
You know what is somewhat surprising?
So, a friend of mine just casually asked me, “What else is up other than work?”
And I was just lost for a moment…
“Nothing,” I had to admit.
Nothing.
It’s odd. Nothing has been going on in my life other than work… for several weeks now.
That is so unlike me.
It does make sense, though, I suppose. When you’re working four jobs at once, there isn’t a lot of time and energy left for much else, right?
And yeah, it was three jobs left week. I just got the fourth earlier today.
And it’s not like I don’t do anything other than work. Just, everything else has seemingly faded into the background, for the moment.
While this may not be sustainable, it’s not like I’m trying to sustain it for the long run. Things should stabilise soon enough.
Just, for now, I think this is what I need to do.
As they say, there is a time to sow, and a time to reap.
October 25, 2022
Word of the Week #343:
My greatest boast in my entire life is that I have been able to do exactly the things I wanted to do as a child and a young adult, things that teachers and other adults tried to stop me from doing, and turn that into a pretty functional career.
Now, should I be bragging about it yet, or should I wait a few more years till I reach whatever goals society deems to be true indicators?
Well, once again, I will refuse to do anything other than exactly what I want. That’s what got me where I am, and that’s what will take me where I want to be.
My life is already fun. I am already happy. What else would I wait for?
Of course, I wouldn’t recommend others to try living like me. I know it is not for everyone.
Some birds flock together. Some birds fly alone.
October 18, 2022
Word of the Week #342:
People often ask me, “How do you even manage three job and two side hustles at the same time, all while taking care of yourself and going regularly to the gym and getting enough sleep to do it all the next day? Just, how do you do it?”
I’ll tell you how: Barely.
October 11, 2022
Word of the Week #341:
You know what is one of my favourite things about myself?
I just keep getting better.
And that’s pretty amazing for a guy who was born awesome, right?
Word of the Week #340:
You know what is one of my favourite things about myself?
I just keep getting better.
And that’s pretty amazing for a guy who was born awesome, right?
October 4, 2022
Word of the Week #340:
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
September 27, 2022
Word of the Week #339:
So, an interesting thing happened at work today.
Oh, sidenote: I have an interesting new job. Maybe I’ll talk more about it sometime.
So, today at work, something incomprehensible, irreconcilable, utterly unacceptable thing happened.
I made a mistake.
And my boss pointed it out and said that she loved my work overall and that she’d handled my little mistake herself.
And when I immediately responded to her with an apology, she said something I have never heard in my entire professional career.
She said: “You’re not expected to be 100% perfect all the time. If you were, there’d be no need for me, right?”
I’ll be honest, that almost made me tear up…
Actually, not just my entire professional career, I may not have heard that very often in my entire life.
Am I not expected to be perfect? I honestly had not considered that.
Throughout our lives, isn’t that what is asked of us? Is it not our conditioning that makes us focus on the 1% we get wrong while ignoring the 99% we get right?
Is it my conditioning, though, or is it just my innate nature? My personal neurosis—that annoying whisper in the back of the head—that keeps reminding me that if I am not perfect, I will never get anything I want?
After having grown up in a world where we routinely lose out on opportunities without even having made mistakes, can we fathom a world where we are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them?
Hell, I even quit music because could never tolerate playing the wrong note even once!
Well, anyway, it might be a little late for me to change who I am. I know that even if I cannot expect sustained perfection from myself, I will not stop seeking it.
Just, it is good to know that if I do make mistakes, if I do occasionally fall, I have nice, kind people around me in the many spheres of my life who would willingly lend a helping hand.
That thought helped me sleep well this morning.
Yeah, my sleep schedule is somewhat off, again, but what can we do, right?
September 20, 2022
Word of the Week #338:
Sometimes, all it takes is a push to start moving in the right direction.
September 13, 2022
Word of the Week #337:
How you make amends after making a mistake reveals a lot about you. And in my opinion, not everyone knows how to make amends.
What do people normally do when they are at fault? Rather, what do they do when they are accused of being at fault?
Far too often, they will deny any wrongdoing. They will make excuses. They will get defensive.
If not that, then they will just try to placate each other with empty gestures, like hollow promises, or meaningless trinkets, or momentary good behaviour.
In the end, nothing really changes, and they keep having the fights over and over again. Their bad behaviour repeats itself over and over again.
Sometimes, I don’t even understand how so many adults fail to see this one simple thing: Just listen!
If you care about someone, and they felt hurt by something you did, just listen!
If someone is feeling disheartened or disappointed or dejected, just listen.
If someone wants to vent their anguish, just listen.
It is not that difficult, and it will always be the first step to any resolution. Only then can you truly make amends, right?
Once you have listened to someone, you can begin to understand what you did wrong. And perhaps it wasn’t wrong from your perspective. Perhaps from your limited, but not incorrect, understanding of the situation, you were right to act the way you did. That is entirely possible, right?
However, once you understand that that action is affecting someone adversely, would you choose to continue doing the same? Or would you consider altering your ways? Would you be willing to sit that person down and talk about your side of the matter and hopefully reach a compromise that you both can live with?
Because in the end, that is the point of making amends, right? A change in behaviour, and a better future?
And it is really not that difficult, is it?
Listen, understand, adjust. Simple.
Unfortunately, too many people are unwilling to do even one of the above, let alone all three.
Sigh.
