Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Do One New Simple Thing Every Week !

Gaurav Parab

I am at a plateau in life. High enough to be safe from the flood of the basic challenge of daily survival yet low enough to miss the excitement which only the crisp air of the unexpected brings.

I may be doing alright as far as living the big picture is concerned, but I know that recently - I have been failing at living the moment. Freedom from the daily grind, freedom from my mundane thoughts, freedom from living life as a series of forced sighs.

Smooth sailing, a well paid job, a love anyone would die for. Things which make you feel alive and strangely dead at the same time.

Things, which due to their predictability act as a smooth comforting balm one day and as an insulting slap the next.

The truth is my life, like a billion others, has been programmed. Not by a mysterious guy with a slight detectable paunch wearing a gaudy golden robe looking down on earth, but by myself. And as I much as I would like to think otherwise, I am not much of a programmer.

Every day, I get up around the same time, go to the same place, do the same thing, and then sleep to dream the same dreams. My every moment is similar to the same before. My program is an array of moments.

Ironically, not too long ago I was not the person that I have become. I lived the moment, and made an effort to look for surprises. The best things in my life have happened whenever I have done something different.

And so I have decided to do something about my little problem with living the little moment. I am going to Do One New Thing Every Week. ( Or at least give it a shot )

The other day I saw a news report on CNN about a girl in the United States who did something similar to get the zing back in her life ( She did one new thing every day) and it really seems like a nice fun idea.

The things I intend to do are simple, and which I know will give me joy or in some cases unmentionable pain. ( I have a feeling that my new thing for this week will cause me some). Do drop in to my blog and suggest new simple things that I can do! Just remember – keep it simple and not too personal.

See what i did first week


7 comments:

Jui Chitre Deshmukh said...

'Things which make you feel alive and strangely dead at the same time.' -i can relate to this thought here..

simple thing-not sure if this idea is worth giving a chance.. yet..

Travel(alone) in a local train from say Pune to some station.. Get down and have chai at the tea stall in that particular railway station. Tell the stall guy that you really liked the tea.. It could be the worst or best of the teas you get to have .. In any case you tell the stall guy that the tea tasted great..

Vaibhav Mathur said...

One simple thing that can give you joy is feeling close to your friends and relatives.

Try to give a hug to each one you know. It will give you joy.

PS: Dont hug anyone who you dont know or who might be offended by this. Else that feeling of yours of unmentionable pain will turn into more than just a feeling.

Vaibhav Mathur said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

1. Stop listening to oldies and change up your music to something more current (otherwise I might kill you, which would be something new AND painful)

2. Shop, get a new wardrobe. On the weekend go through your cupboard and throw stuff you don't need. There will be things you aren't wearing anymore but just hanging on to it cuz of some emotional value. Take a last look at it and dump it. If it makes you look fat, burn it!

3. Clean your room, one simple thing in a week (that way you will make your mom very happy once a week, which wud make it 2 simple things you did! Boing Boing Boing, finish line...)

Stop hanging on to what you were when you were young. Hell even I was more funny, lively and spontaneous but I was also fat and irresposible, not to mention I had no guys following me around!

If you read the above stuff I pity you cuz I was just gonna tell you to ignore it. Well I'll tell you what I'll be doing starting this Saturday, visiting 3 metropolitan cities in a matter of 2 weeks. Travelling is simple but when it costs close to 10K, well...not so much so!

-A

Manjusha said...

Such a nice idea! I think I'll do it too. There's a small NGO near my house, I've been thinking of going there and volunteering to do some work. But not been getting around to it at all :(

But you are talking about doing fun things, right? Here are some suggestions:

1. Call/e-mail an old friend every week and catch up with them.

2. How about making a collage of pictures of your childhood and sharing with your parents/siblings? It's very easy to do with tools like picasa.

3. Cook something for your folks :)

bhumika said...

This post has inspired me to do the same. For the coming weeks:
1. Try eating something new – something you’ve never tasted before.
2. Explore a new place – there are so many pretty places in and around Pune.
3. Watch a movie in a theatre- all alone! See how different the movie experience can be.

Aparna Shelke said...

Ummm...I don't know if you surf of check emails at work...how about doing none of that for one whole work week?

Aparna.