Srishti Kumari

Tag: life lessons

  • I Actually Forgot

    That, it’s happening!

    Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

    Sometimes life surprises you not by sending you a gift, but by reminding you of a gift you once prayed for. You got it, and it has become so natural that you almost forgot it.

    While scrolling on my phone, I saw a YouTube short. The theme was around heavy thigh girlies and their everyday dresses, clothing, and lifestyle choices centred around the theme.

    You know what, after a few seconds, I remembered how my PCOD and unusual weight gain had made me a heavy, fatty thigh girl, and how, for the first time in my life, I felt my inner thighs rubbing against each other. And this was not a very happy feeling for me. This change was something very unusual that I faced in my late twenties, around two years ago.

    And I remember the days when I wanted to get rid of the experience of my inner thighs rubbing against each other. I had PCOD, weight gain, tiredness, and a lot of unusual fatigue. And being a no-gym, no regular exercise girl made the change a bit more difficult on a personal level.

    But I started doing one thing. I incorporated walking. Simple walk. Evening walks on my terrace — anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, and I continued this religiously for several months. For several months, I used to wear my lower and a t-shirt, put on my shoes, and head on to my terrace with the smartwatch on my wrist.

    No pressure. No specific goals. Just a decision to move my body. Preferably to walk, because I find it very easy, simple, and doable on most days.

    And now, after the more or less regular walks, continuously for more than one and a half years, my slim-fit high waist jeans that once stuck around my thighs and I had left any hope of wearing that again, fitted me beautifully just like before.

    I was surprised, and shocked at the same time! I kid you not when I am saying this. I wasn’t expecting this change at all. I had given up on my favourite jeans.

    Results like these compel you to stick to your seemingly very simple habits every day. And it has made me more aware of the benefits of simple habits like this in our everyday lives.

    Starting small, keeping it simple, making it fit in our schedule very easily, showing up with a lot of love and care we deserve from ourselves, and enjoying the process along the way. This mindset shift brings the desired transformation.

    Getting properly in my old high-waisted jeans and not feeling the inner thighs rubbing at every step are only two visible changes. Walking has also made me positive, optimistic, creative, and reflective in beautiful ways.

    Walking kept me alive. It keeps me alive.

    Try walking. You will naturally start to feel the physical, mental, emotional, and your creative health and well-being only getting better and better without any noise, pressure, strict diets, gym workouts, and calorie counts.

    Happy living.

    Happy walking.

  • Post-meal walk

    A cure for sure

    Photo by Biel Morro on Unsplash

    Many people, even doctors, recommend walking a few steps for a few minutes after our meals. It has many benefits, including sugar control and weight loss in the long term. Ayurveda also talks about it.

    For me, especially these days when I am taking medicines 3 times a day for many days, this walk is really helping me stay awake a little longer after my lunch time. The heavy doses of medicine sometimes make it very difficult to stay awake and do anything. And me being me, always prefers a body and mind well rested for any kind of work, so I sleep when my body asks for it.

    But sleeping a day thrice, I mean, once after breakfast and medicines, then if you can’t control it after lunch, and then of course, the nighttime dose makes it too much. And I don’t want to see my puffy face and swollen eyes anymore. Rest is fine. Deep sleep is good. But sleeping three times, I didn’t feel so good. So, my post-lunch walk for around half an hour is saving me from falling asleep these days.

    Can’t say much about what my metabolism, sugar, cholesterol, thyroid, and insulin levels are, but my sleeping and staying awake balance, with a short nap after breakfast, is right right now. And I am happy for that.

    Tell me about yourself. Have you noticed any positive changes in your daytime or just general everyday life because of this simple act?

    Don’t hesitate to share in the comments below.

    Happy walking.

    Happy sleeping.

    And happy living!

  • Succulents Keep Sanity Intact

    And that is what we need, right?

    Photo by Virginia Marinova on Unsplash

    If there is one thing for me in this world that can bring me a sheer amount of joy, bliss, happiness, peace, serenity, and sanity – without preaching any sort of gyaan – then that has to be the greens.

    The greens – the plants, the herbs, the flowers, the balcony garden, the park, the forest, and the succulents on my table just beside my laptop, and a few on my window.

    I believe they are the purest form of souls and beings on this planet. They are complete in themselves. Nothing like them is rooted in nature. They are the symbol of nature, creation, evolution, change, acceptance, beauty, patience, colours, joy, happiness, peace – and a whole lot of happy feelings, just by being there.

    Their mere presence is precious enough to make your moments beautiful.

    There are studies and research that show that plant gazing, forest bathing, and keeping succulents around your workspace lowers your stress and boosts your productivity. And you know what, you don’t need to go through any of those researches, data, or statistics if you don’t want to. It’s completely fine. You are not missing out on anything important.

    You just have to do one thing. Make space for these beautiful greens in your life. Go to the nearest park, walk on the morning dewy grass barefoot, look closely at the different shades of green the trees have, go to the nearby nursery, convert your balcony into a balcony garden – one step at a time.

    Sit in your balcony with nothing but your presence, and see, watch, and gaze through the beautiful green tribe you have managed to accommodate. Sit for hours to gaze at the beauty, go for forest bathing, and release every ounce of negativity with each inhale inside you. Make succulents your room partner, your workspace partner, and let life come to you peacefully, slowly, steadily, and sanely.

    You will lose nothing. You won’t miss out on anything. You know what will happen? You will see life like never before. You will see them growing, flourishing, drying, and dying. Then, you will see seeds germinating, leaves broadening, plants growing, trees beautifying, flowers blooming, and greens beautifully thriving – by accepting, adapting, changing, growing, and blooming – all while staying grounded and deeply connected to their roots in front of your eyes.

    They have taught me, and continue to teach me, the lessons of peace, sanity, serenity, growth, humbleness, beauty, and life like no book on philosophy has till now.

    They don’t demand anything. They just need your presence. Can you give that? They will give you a lot. Sanity is just one of many gifts they have for you.

    Think about it. And it’s never too late to go and meet one of these friends ever. Go visit them. Take them home. And love them. They won’t cheat you. I promise!

    Wishing you all the greenery, sanity, serenity, peace, freshness, beauty, growth, and mindfulness.

    Go get your greens.

  • The Relatability You Feel In Stories

    They make you feel seen and heard every time

    Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

    You know, whenever you read someone’s story — be it on their blog, their linkedin post, the instagram story, or anywhere, and you feel a part of you being described there, that feeling of connection and relatability makes you feel valid for your actions, feelings and emotions you were finding to get from people around you, is my friend a miracle in today’s life.

    Miracle, because everything — when you see someone succeeding, someone going gym every day, someone waking up at 5:00 am consistently, someone running marathons, someone earning in crores, and someone always looking so pretty and aesthetic, you deeply feel so behind, alone, isolated, and bad for yourself every day.

    Perfect pictures are for performative goals. They are perfect online because they can’t afford to be seen as anything less than that. Those perfect pictures from perfect angles are actually trying to hide many blemishes, dark spots, and unevenness that everyday life throws at us.

    And poor us! We believe in the perfectly captured, edited, filtered, and carefully curated corners of someone’s grid, as it is the reality of life.

    The reality is, humanness comes with a lot of insecurities, confusion, failures, tiredness, hopelessness, slow days, mood swings, low periods, edgy feelings, anxiety, stress, and nerve-wracking, vulnerable moments as well. And that, my friend, is not pretty and aesthetic. That is bad, ugly, cruel, silly, confused, sad, with a generous amount of existential crisis. And we feel like we are alone.

    No, we are not. We are not alone. Yes, a 10-step skincare routine may have a million views online, but you also have the stories where people openly share about their bad skin days.

    When someone shares their raw, real, personal, mostly unpopular, and normal stories of spending weekends at home, Netflixing, reading, gardening, and living through the days instead of performing, I feel more connected to those stories naturally.

    And I think that is what connection requires. Simple truth. Simple ways. Simple acts. Everyday life. Mundane days. Fleeting moments. Us. And our stories.

    There is a strange connectedness in everyday stories of people you are not connected to in any way. And maybe that’s a shared connection we possess as humans.

    So simple, so subtle, so powerful.

  • Hey Past

    Thanks for being in the past

    Photo by Mykhaylo Kopyt on Unsplash

    Past, thanks. Thank you so much for being in the past. Although you come to me. You come to my mind a lot. Many times, with many unpleasant memories from your shelf, but I am still relieved that you are my past now.

    Yes, the memories stay. The unpleasant ones don’t go easily. The pain, the helplessness, the cries, the judgements, the violence, the abuse, the hypocritical behaviour, the dual standards – they leave a scar. They probably have left a scar on my inner child, and they don’t leave the mindspace completely.

    But I feel there is a good thing. I think you had come so early with so many unpleasant things only to make me aware of the truth, the life, and myself so early.

    Maybe!

    You taught me so many things. That’s true! I just wish I had seen and felt more love also during those times. I am just saying. I wish!

    It’s fine. Whatever happened, happened! You know, you taught me a very important thing. The past is in the past, and will be in the past, no matter how many times I feel the unwanted memories in my present. I can always choose to remind myself that it was in the past, and I am in the present. Always.

    I am in my present, and I can choose my future. Always! Isn’t it liberating?

    The relationship you have for the first twenty to thirty years of your life with your parents, your siblings, your friends, relatives, cousins, and with yourself impacts a lot your mindset and behaviour towards almost everything in life. At somepoint, you have to step up and decide to rethink, renew, and restart your relationship with your life, with the values that deeply satisfy your soul.

    You can’t let the ugliness of the past decades take away all the shine, beauty, life, and magic from the best years of your life that are yet to come.

    Maybe it was the way of almighty to make me come closer to him. Maybe! Maybe the past was just a small bittersweet part of the plan. Maybe!

    Whatever it was, and whatever it is, I am glad it was my past; it was in the past. My present is holding, protecting, guiding, and inspiring me so beautifully that sometimes I think, if this had to come, then I have no more complaints about my past.

    Listen past, you were there to make me see, teach, and understand many things so clearly that my present and future self will always thank you for. I respect the years of learning you passed on to me.

    Thanks. Thanks for being my past. Thanks for happening and staying in the past.

    Today, my present understands you.

    Thank you.