Srishti Kumari

Tag: life

  • 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.

  • Some Days, I Feel A Bit Clueless

    And maybe that’s okay.

    Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

    Some days, like today, I feel a bit clueless. I mean, I have my tasks to do. My to-do task list for the next 10 days is kept in front of me. And I know the importance of this work very well.

    I have to write, prepare, and schedule a few – actually a lot of pieces for my blog, write a few medium articles, prepare a good amount of LinkedIn pieces, and all of this has to be completed on time. All of the writing, editing, proofreading, scheduling, publishing – everything is part of my plan to make my writing, my stories, my articles more visible online to create a valuable and reliable personal brand for myself in the long run.

    And this bigger picture and purpose make it even more important for me to show up. But I feel that “no two days will ever be the same” is actually a reminder for me. You know, I created 9 blog post pieces and 1 LinkedIn post – a total of 10 stories just the day before yesterday. And I can’t tell you how amazing I felt. I gave myself the freedom to just write the stories that come to my mind for the blog you are reading now, and boom! I happily, very happily, wrote nine stories in a single day – within 8 hours. The drafts have been saved, and I am editing and publishing them with each coming day.

    But yesterday, I didn’t feel that energy. And the maximum I managed to do was to edit two drafts and publish them. And, I am fine with it. I still have the next ten days to complete my tasks, and it’s fine.

    But today, oh god! Today, I have opened my laptop at 3:30 pm – sooooooooo late! And that too, after convincing myself enough that there’s no need to make it perfect, just show up! And that is what I am doing right now. Just showing up.

    And if you will get to know that this particular writing is the third one in my effort to show up today, and I have already scribbled and saved two drafts, then maybe you will understand the power of showing up. At least I am convinced by the power of just showing up. Good work, better work, best work, excellent work, extraordinary performance – everything will come, once you make it a point to show up. Show up unprepared. Show up with confusion. Show up with half-baked stories. Show up with a clueless feeling you have with you since morning. Just show up.

    Maybe you were clueless because some days, life decides to make you show up first and let the cluelessness fade away in the light of the day. Maybe. Who knows!

    That’s why I think, some days, it’s ok to feel a bit clueless. I think our cluelessness comes to softly nudge us towards something better. And for me, it was to show up. It was, for me, to open my laptop and write six pieces – six personal stories/ blog pieces/ blog posts without too much thinking, and see, it’s been 1 hour and 20 minutes, and I am already about to finish my third story.

    Yeah, only drafts, not the edited, proofread, polished one. Just drafts. And that works.

    Taking small steps every day to build the life, career, finances, and everything of your dreams sometimes may also feel like this. Just remember, you are only feeling clueless. You are not clueless. Go to your why. Go to your what. And figure out your how for today. You can do it. I believe in you.

    Show up happily. Show up peacefully. Show up cluelessly. That’s okay. Just show up!

    Take care.

  • 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.

  • Staying Hydrated

    And other grown-up stuff

    Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

    When we were in school and college, our dreams used to be so aspirational. Big house, big car, international trips, financial abundance, this, that, and whatnot. And though I am still very ambitious deep down for the dreams that feel true and amazing to me, I didn’t think back then that a few dreams would be so simple yet difficult to live.

    For example, drinking enough water and staying hydrated all day.

    Now, this should be a part of anyone who is on a healthy lifestyle journey. True! Hundred percent agree. But the truth needs to be told. Brushing my teeth every morning is the only healthy habit I can do on autopilot, or, as they say, naturally.

    Apart from this, any and every habit that comes under the umbrella of healthy lifestyle, be it sleeping early, waking up early, doing meditation, doing exercises, going for walks, eating home cooked meals, cooking at home, eating timely, reading books, journalling, gratitude, prayers, weekly skin and haircare, weekly grocery stock audit, home cleaning and household chores, learning and upskilling, updating my CV time to time, future thinking and planning, present moment enjoyment and living, staying in touch with my besties, talking once or twice a day with my parents, and second parents(in-laws), wardrobe organization, haircut, nails cut, and, drinking just enough water to stay hydrated, healthy, calm, and active – it’s a lot!

    I have understood that for me, each and everything demands planning, scheduling, practising, and repetition throughout, as per my needs. And now, I am at peace with this reality that I am not someone who naturally wakes up early, sleeps early, eats early, eats on time, eats healthy, drinks 3 litres of water per day, does workouts, reads a lot, writes a lot, does self-study, and upskilling.

    Because I am in the process. And I am in love with the process. I have trust in the process that it will make my vision come true very soon in the form of a version of me that my heart knows deep down I am and I meant to be.

    But yeah..for now, it’s an effort to drink enough water regularly. Though I have become more mindful of that and keep my water bottle right in front of me beside my laptop. It helps. I see it more, I drink more often. And proper hydration, coupled with home-cooked meals on time, easily keeps me far from junk food cravings. So that’s a win for sure. Rest will be taken care of as well.

    Ok, now I am taking a sip. You also drink enough water for your overall health and well-being.

    Stay hydrated. Stay healthy.

    Take care.