Merry Christmas everyone. It’s a nice winter morning and I thought of writing something up. As the year (and decade !) is coming to a close, I thought I’d share my 2019 and how this year made a huge impact on me. Safe to say, I learned a lot this year and I felt like I have changed a lot as well for the better and and maybe for some worse but, let’s focus on the good.

Endgame

I genuinely for the life of me can’t remember the last time I cried when watching a movie. Avengers Endgame changed all of that. I was sobbing at the end of the movie. That movie brought out a whole new side of emotion that I have deeply locked away for many years. I’m not saying I’m like Chandler before he opened up the floodgates or Cameron Diaz in The Holiday but man, it feels nice to cry.

You don’t have to respect everyone

Growing up, my parents and my teachers taught me that I should always respect my elders. I don’t think I agree completely with that. Not every elderly deserves respect. I met many people both young and old than me (you know who you are) who turned out to be racists, sexists, misogynists but they get away with that kind of stuff because of various factors. Such a fun world we live in.

Focus on you and you only

Ah yes, the aforementioned thing might be the most cliched thing you might read here today yet it does seem applicable to most of us. My life is pretty awesome and I thought it recently turned awesome but it was always awesome. I was comparing myself to other people around me. That did a number on me. Nowadays, I really stopped caring about others do and man, I feel at peace with myself. My journey is mine and mine alone and so should yours be.

Stay Healthy and/or Happy

2019 was a phenomenal year for me in terms of change and physical change was no less. For me, it was getting in the best shape of my life. It is super hard but at the same time, the results are quite fulfilling and motivating. I’m far from where I want to be but the progress is satisfying. Everyone’s version of healthiness or fitness differs, so there isn’t one constant parameters for being fit. You be you.

Rejection hurts but you gotta move on

We all know what kind of rejection I am talking about here. When you like someone, just tell that person directly and stop stalking the shit outta them. If they aren’t interested, respect their wishes and try to move on. Don’t let our Indian films brainwash you into thinking you’ll magically end up together just like at the end of the movie. Never gonna happen dude. It’s just one person. You haven’t even seen the rest of the world. Trust me, you’ll find that special someone or worst case scenario, I’m sure your parents will find you one.

Stop judging

I never judge people but at the same time, I am shocked to find so many people around me who judge people based on their clothing, relationship history, physical appearance and the worst i.e their gender. I can’t fathom as to why people do this. Let’s just mind our own business and live a non judgemental life please ?

Do something you are afraid to do

Little bit of a backstory here. I am shit scared of height, spiders, bikes and lots of other things. If I’m on the balcony on the 4th floor, I am going to hold your hand for sure or stay behind you. That’s how scared I am of heights. So, to actually fight this fear, I decided to do a crazy thing in Feb of this year. I actually thought of booking a session for skydiving when I was living in Florida. On the website, after entering my credit card details, I only had to hit confirm. Except, I closed the tab and chickened out. Okay okay, I’m sounding like a hypocrite here because I haven’t done it but I swear to you, I’m gonna do it next year (my palms suddenly feel sweaty). If I don’t do it, next round is on me. So, just do it man. YOLO.

Be Selfish

Ah yes, this might sound selfish but that’s exactly what I want to be. I honestly don’t have the energy to care about everyone I know. I wish I could but that would drain everything out of me. Whenever random people message me out of the blue asking for my help, I just ignore them because I just don’t have that energy. I was actually a pretty nice guy but people took that to advantage. Now I am definitely no more Mr Nice Guy. Unless, you are pretty close to me or it’s actually a pretty serious help, chances are you won’t get an affirmative from my end. Call me selfish because that’s exactly what I am.

Dress the way you want

I was always scared to dress nicely or differently because I was afraid how people might judge me which sounds very stupid but that’s how I thought. I slowly started to come out of that shell and started to experiment the way I dress. It turns out that it was dumb of me to be scared. Honestly, turns out most people don’t care what I wear. They do have a life of their own to live. So, I was the idiot here. My fashion sense has definitely upped a lot and so has the money I spend on clothes. I’ve got competition for you Ranveer.

We need to talk about mental well being

We are soon going into a new decade and people still associate mental illness with a lot of stigma. Sometimes the answer to being down or depressed is neither ice cream nor comfort food or just a night of good sleep. It’s actually talking to someone who is close to you or who is qualified i.e a therapist. There are a wide array of diseases in the spectrum and people don’t even know that some of them are actually clear diagnoses. Being a doctor, I urge everyone not to discard or make fun of people who might be doing through some tough times and actually try to help them. There is too much stigma in our country regarding mental health and we need to eradicate it.

Some of you might think that I am crazy to actually reveal my weaknesses to the world. It might sound crazy but everyone has them and I don’t think it’s weird to actually share some with the world especially when it might be of use some to others. Nobody is perfect. We all have some flaws. Letting people know that you have some might actually make them more aware of you as a person rather than inadvertently hurting you.

2019 was a fun year. I made new friends. I lost some friends. I fell in love. I grew as a person. Sometimes it was harsh and rough. Other times, it was warm and mellow. At times, it was just okay. I guess that’s just life in general. I know I have a lot of cliches in here but I just love them damn cliches. I hope everyone had an amazing year and I wish you the same for 2020 and beyond.

PS : Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !