Count Your Blessings

"Life is so exhausting!", I thought. Work seemed to have its own pace, slower than a freaking snail. Love life either vacant or a mess. You know those times in life where your brain and heart are totally determined to go in two opposite directions? Oh ask me more about it! The mid-twenties-crisis? Oh, ask me still more!My friends are either getting promoted, married or having kids, and I have annoying relatives asking me in their more annoying tone about my wedding plans, aarrggh!!

Then as I sat by my window sipping my cuppa, I did some soul-searching. And my day seemed brighter all of a sudden. That's because I realised that my life seems almost perfect(touch wood though). First of all, I love who 'I' am. I have a loving family who are just right for me. I have credit cards and the bill gets taken care of. I'm a Doctor and the journey to be an Attending is so far so good. I can play music, I can cook, I can write too. I have friends who I can call up to chat at 2 am because I am bored. The same friends who say 'Shut up and study' when I have my lazy days. I've been a part of a crazy gang in college. I've loved. I've had heartbreaks. I've had crushes, which I fortunately-unfortunately got over as soon as I talked to them! I've travelled to my dream destination and have made friends during the journey. I've lived alone in a new city, lived in a perfect neighbourhood, got locked out of the house at 4 am, partied hard at the most happening places, had slumber night-outs and travelled to the heart of the city for work every single day! I've known the rules and have had fun breaking them too.

So it's okay that I haven't got into post graduation 'yet'. Atleast I'm chasing my dreams and I'm almost there. I know I will be happy doing what I do at work for the rest of my life. It's totally okay that I'm 26 and single and not on a matrimonial website yet. It's okay that I don't get to put up facebook statuses like 'Thanks my dear husband' after I succeed in something. No offence but,  its fun being successful when you're single. especially when you've earned it with your sweat and blood. You're so hot and happening and you feel like the world is your playground. It's fun to guess who would be that lucky guy, who would be by you at your graduation party a couple of years from now. I'm sure it's gonna be worth the wait.

So what if life is messy at times. So what if that guy you have a crush on hardly tells you a hi. So what if that other guy, 'Mr-almost-perfect' asked you out on a date, but 'geography' won't let you go. So what if exam and its results are due. So what if everything is uncertain. How much ever scary or shitty it seems, hope for the best is all you can do. And hope is a wonderful thing. As they say, 'If you believe in miracles, you're bound to find one'. At the end of the day, the journey does matter, not just the destination.  Everything happens for a reason. And as Mom says, 'If not for sorrows, you wouldn't value joy'.

So, as long as you've got a career, a weekend life, family, friends and if you've ever had 'atleast' one guy tell you that he would fight the world to have you as his girl, you've got a life. You've got the independence to dance to your own music for some more time , until that special someone comes your way and joins in. A lot of people your age who stuck to rules are so jealous of your life right now. So if you're sailing in the same boat as I am, Count your Blessings, and Smile. You're worth it.


I have jam packed days right now and will be backpacking soon. It's gonna be an adventure sure and  I'm so looking forward to it. To Success, Fun and Love.

Cheers,
Chandana C.Shekar

To Happiness, Always..

On the drive, On the go.. Life seems to take its own turns and curves and you just drive along. Not just so that you don't lose track, but also because you don't have another option. Everybody has a destination,and a journey to make to reach that point. Not that everybody's destination is the same, but maybe the road is, atleast for a distance. Maybe that's why lives of people around us overlap with ours. We take different paths when our lives need to go different ways and then, we meet new people, new travellers. People change, but memories stay. And sometimes we wish those good old times happen again.

In pursuit of a career, people move from one place to another at times. They move out of their comfort zone, in which they've been since ages and go to a new City. In most cases, this happens with leaving family and friends behind and feeling lonely at one point or the other. They get along with new people, get along with house hunting and finding out grocery shops nearby and maybe, a new mode of transport too. They expect a few problems to crop up and expect to count on a few people there. Maybe it ends up happening that way or maybe the other way round. Everything is just an insecurity, just a gamble.

But the strong we, don't just give up. We persuade the dream that doesn't let us sleep. We get through the tunnels to get to the shore we've always dreamt of being on. Even though we go through the phase of struggle complaining and missing our old luxurious life, we run from pillar to post to make this part comfortable for the least. We know this is what we need to do if we want to be happy a decade later.

Then, by the time we solve our problems and get on with the speed that life takes us, its already time for the next phase of life. Maybe time to leave for a new City. And its only then that we realise, that even throughout this phase of life, which we had labelled as 'difficult' and in this city which we never called ours, we had made friends. We had managed to have nice times and those times had created memories. Only then is when we realise that there are a few more photos to go on the wall.

Every coin has two sides and every cloud sure has a silver lining. If we just realise this during the period of darkness and laugh off the problems, if we just manage to reduce the wrinkles on our forehead by not letting unnecessary things bother us; if we just live and let live, maybe then we shall have the time to actually 'Live' the days we have, even during that 'struggling' period of life. After all, its a part of your twenties perhaps and that age has happiness also sanctioned with it. Its just on us, whether we look for it and use it or not. Maybe this city had treated us bad and asked too much of us to start with. But sooner or later, like most arranged marriages, it would have accepted us. Both for our good and bad. And we too, in one way or the other, would have associated ourselves with it. Maybe life would take us to a new city then, to show that its got control over us. And then, the least thing we would want to do.,..is to repent not having enjoyed our time spent here.

So wherever you are, look for happiness. Its all around... Every single day gets with it a lot of sunshine. Its for you to take your cup of it.


Loads of love,
Dr. Chandana C. Shekar