My dear Rumi, the more I read you, the more you make me mad. Shall we sit down for tea and have a man to man conversation. “Why man, why do we need to keep breaking our heart. I can’t even count.”
Jokes apart, I came across this thought sometime last year. At first glance, I was like pagalet hai Rumi. I did some reading, research and the more I thought about it gradually became evident. This was also an interesting phase in my life when I was recovering from a fucked up life. From being high 24*7 for 2 years I finally said fuck it, enough of living a life like Kabir Singh and a looser. Let me start living life.
The good and bad are always inside me. Which function I call, is a choice and these choices have defined my life(personally and professionally). However, I live with them with no regrets.
In my favorite book - “The Road Less Travelled,” author M Scott Peck shares a beautiful story about a woman who lives on her own, talks to no one, goes to work, gets her food from the local store and on Sunday’s goes to the church. But she keeps her head down, no eye contact, no conversation and lives her life. This is a safe and risk-free life. Obviously she is hurt, afraid to live a happy life, to trust someone, to be in a relationship, to seek a shoulder where she can rest and weave new dreams.
Our past kills our risk-taking abilities. We either live in the past or future. But never in the present. Do we want to live or are we dead? Because if we want to live our life, live at this moment, allow us to trust someone then we will have to take risks. And that brings fear of failure. So will you allow fear to conquer or try to live a happy life?
Shane Parish in his weekly newsletter - Brain Food(it is worth subscribing if you love his podcasts on Farnam Street) recently shared, “If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life.” (Thank You Rohit Kaul for sharing this on LinkedIn)
The question that I ask myself whenever I am down or my past tries to break me - “Do I really want to live a life with regret or have a meaningful life.”
At 41, I am starting again with a clean slate. If I say I have conquered fear and anxiety then I am lying. I am shit scared but I have nothing to lose.
“I might fail again. I might be broken again. But let me try once more. One life, let me live it.”
This week I also shared my thoughts on Women’s Day Campaigns and Holi Campaigns.
This year almost every brand wanted to connect with women by doing almost the same thing that they have done over the years. But brands like JioSaavn, Netflix, SBI Life, Kotak, etc. tried their best to stand out. My personal favorite of International Women’s Day 2020 is Healthians #SheIsNotDoingGreat
Brands also did their best to connect with the audience on Holi. Nykaa’s campaign #ColourMeFree. Balanced perfectly between Women’s Day and Holi, a rap song sung by rapper and hip-hop queen Deepa Unnikrishnan aka Dee MC Happens to be my favorite.
Before I buzz off and leave you with your weekend. A big thank you to all my email subscribers. I am happy that more than 100 people have made a choice to read my boring stories.
On average I have an open rate of 25-30%, I want to improve it(I need to be less lazy in my life). My biggest traffic after Email comes from LinkedIn (the network of thought leaders). Videos are helping and I love the camera. (If you have any feedback or suggestion, please respond to this email.)
I moved to Substack in October and I made a conscious choice that I will not import my 5000+ email subscribers from MailChimp. They were all part of my life when I was running Lighthouse Insights as a startup for 7 years. I invited them but I left the choice with them.
At this point, most of you would be “Idiot hai Prasant.” No issues but I told you I am starting fresh. I want people to genuinely make a choice rather than forcing them.
So thank you once again for reading me and you guys motivate me. Live your life, be happy and enjoy your weekend.