So I have been feeling listless in the last few days. Even before I went to Bangalore. And I don’t know why. May be it is the new place that I have moved to. Or may be that I don’t have an AC at my place and thus I have had inconsistent and fitful sleep. Or it could be that I don’t have an office place anymore (the guys I was sharing an office with, they moved onto a new place and they no longer have a vacancy). Or may be I am stressed about something important to me – my work, relationships, money.
I can’t seem to put a finger on things but I am being so useless that it is not making me listless. You know, spiraling down the feedback loop? You do something because you are not well. That act of doing that something makes you all the more unwell. And because you are unwell, you do that something. And you get in that loop.
Lemme give another example. You are fat. You want to lose weight. But because you are fat, you can’t seem to gather what it takes to go ride the treadmill. Rather, you eat more as you struggle with the misery of not going on the treadmill. And because you can’t go to the treadmill and you can’t stop eating, you get fatter.
Fuck. I am doing such a bad job of explaining this! I need to brush up my skills to explain things.
Anyway, I have been so listless that I am actually miserable in the head. I am so out of sync with how I identify with myself, the story that I tell myself, the narrative if you will…
Wait.
Who am I?
What is the story that I tell myself?
What is the song that I sing to myself?
What is my narrative?
Simple.
I am someone who wants to improve every day. And help others around me improve. And in the process, make money, create impact and move the world forward. This quote summaries me well…
So, if I am not improving myself every day, I believe I am not living. I am not alive. And how do I improve myself every day? Simple. Create (more) and consume (lesser). Meet more people. Work on my physical, emotional and mental sides of life. Physical – no I don’t work out but I like to walk, I like to eat in moderation. I like to sleep better. Mental – get active, keep my head engaged, think of things that I believe need work on. Emotional – become stronger to be able to cope up with the vagaries of life.
And I am not doing any of these. At all. I am not reading. I am not writing. I am not meditating. I am not creating. I am not meeting interesting people. I am not chasing largeness the way I ought to chase. I am not creating opportunities for myself. I am not consuming media (not reading books, seeing content, listening to podcasts, etc). I am not thinking. I am not actively questioning things and opinions and ideas. I am just being a vegetable. Heck, I am not being a good vegetable – not been sleeping well at all, like I said.
I am not doing anything that I want to be doing with my life or time. And it sucks so bad that I can’t seem to put my finger to it!
This suckyness in the head and the inability to think of answers is not the best place to be at. And I need to get out of it. And from whatever limited I can think, there could be a few solutions. Lemme try and list those.
To start with, this…
Found this on Kunal Shah’s twitter feed. Very consistent with what I’ve been saying all my life. Happen to things, rather than waiting for things to happen to you. Become a high agency individual, if you will.
Translating this into specifics, the action items for the next few days are…
1. I will go and find an office place for myself. Just that most of the co-working places are way too expensive and not designed to enable work. Really. They are not. And it’s pathetic. So, despite the limitation, I will find something that allows me to start work at 7 AM. And is accessible. Even if I have to spend extra, I will.
2. Get back to that life where work was the only priority and nothing else mattered.
Last few days, I don’t know why and how I started to take it easy. Which means that I would do those parties and stay up late and socialize and meet people to “catchup” and all that. Which works well for a lot of people. But not for me. So, I need to get back to that inhuman life and routine where I am up with the sun and spend more of my waking time working (and not leisuring).
3. Think hard about each thing and cut out parts that are hampering my sanity. If a relationship is not giving me happiness or comfort or peace of mind, I will move out of it. If there is an idea that is not progressing despite all my intentions, I will get out of it. If I have to take hard decisions, I will. Like AK told me yesterday, I am fucked because I am attached to things that I should’ve let go a long time ago! I mean if C4E does not make money for me, I should think hard about it and put a pause to it, if I have to. If I can’t seem to get the book 2 going, I must quit the idea of working on it. You get the drift?
4. Get my sleep in order. Since I’ve moved to the new house, I’ve not been sleeping well. And it’s affecting the way I operate. May be that it the key reason for my unhappiness and how I operate. Over the new few days, I will get my sleep in order. Everything else can wait. In fact, this should be on the top of the list. But it’s too much edit. So let is remain here.
So yeah.
This is the rant for the day.
Thank God I have this blog and a daily journal of sorts to record how I feel. If not for these, I would probably go mad. I wonder how those people that remain quiet operate. I could never. I need something to talk to, someone to rant to. Even if its the blog.
What about you?