Hema Rai

Last night, I was reading an article so aptly titled “How do you go from being whipsawed-with-confusion to back-on-track?” Familiar as it sounded, it got me thinking about how my

own life was shaping up — career confusions, expectation jitters, impossible seniors, insurmountable stress levels, caffeine addiction, and not to mention the impossible crunches.

It could as well be titled, midlife crisis. Being a Virgo, it is hard not to be critical. Blame it on the zodiac, but we Virgos tend to find flaws even in the “near-perfect” pieces. And self-criticism, which may seem productive at times, but definitely not during moments like this, it just adds to all the confusion and stress.

So, I decided, it was time for some soul searching. I looked up in my diary (written during those stress-filled university days), into my “to be thankful for” list. Aside from family, there was friends, and being educated and having free will, being me, being healthy, for each new day and each day gone by and lastly for love and life.

Ask and you shall receive. The silver lining was getting visible. A little pep talk was on the way. Now,

whoever said life was easy; and failures, clichéd as it is, are just wakeup calls. One day at a time.

Simple stress buster techniques do work — a simple massage, deep breathing, even feng shui helps and not to mention my unsuccessful attempt at meditation and yoga. The crunches — who are we kidding with? (twice a week with counting errors does not exactly work miracles). Caffeine addiction - I will have to work on that one. And the list does not stop with these few things.

And how could I forget having fun. Planned or spontaneous, it is the ultimate gift you could give yourself. It can invade the most stressful of situations and grows exponentially when shared. It adds the extra zing to life. It also does a mighty good for busting all the stress and other concerns.

So, I decided, life is good. It is a daring adventure. And love, new as it is, it is the spontaneous fun-filled time we have, the risks we take, the sharing and forgiving, the trust and the faith we have. And that is all the reason to thank the beloved who has changed the world into a better place.