A letter to the Rats in the Race

Don’t burn yourself out!

Dear,

In this world of competition and rat race, we often tend to believe that we are “not enough”. This is one of the worst diseases that millions of people experience.

As the years pass by, we end up not loving ourselves. Remember if you don’t love yourself, who else will?

Living in a body where you constantly feel unworthy or not enough is nothing less than making yourself an orphan.

How can we overcome this?

Here are simplified words that may serve as the chicken soup for you soul:

1. There’s always someone better than you

No matter how good you are at something, how smart you think you are, there’s always someone better than you in this world. Even Elon Musk and Abdul Kalam lack some skills that you may know!

What you need to acknowledge is that you are not measured my your abilities!

You are you and the world is at perfect balance having you like this!

So don’t bother yourself that your neighbor is a better cook or your coworker act like they outsmart you. They themselves are so insecure that they have the constant need to show to the world their abilities.

2. “The secret” is absolute truth

Before you BS the heading, I need you to trust me and hear out my experience with the law of attraction.

I was and I still am in conflict with myself and suddenly one day, I decided to bluff my mind and believe that I’m happy with my life and visualize that I’m riding my on my bike in the streets at my will. And guess what? Within less than a week my father advised me to buy a bike! I never said a word to anyone! He helped financing the bike and I was in absolute bliss for a week. Until the doubt creeped in again.

If you can bluff your friends and others that you are fine, why not bluff yourself?

I understand you know the mess you are. But remember, there is someone messier than that. :)

3. Pamper yourself to sleep

No matter how bad the day goes, remember to always pamper yourself before sleep. Sleeping on a loving note helps you wake up to a beautiful day.

Hug your pillow and say that you love yourself unconditionally. Even when you are obese, dumb, bad at speaking, wasting time, you are you and you are going nowhere. So why not make peace with yourself?

4. Address yourself in third person

Disclaimer: don’t do this in front of others and make them uncomfortable.

A lot of times, addressing yourself in third person helps you have a look at yourself and get astonished to see that you seem to be a wonderful person!

Because people don’t know the mess you are. The same way, you need not know the mess you are.

Simple tips to this:

1. Set your passwords addressing your self. For example mine was “ILoveSrivani” no don’t try this. It’s changed 😉
2. Write or print posters with quotes directly addressing you. For example “ Srivani, never let others make you happy or sad. It all comes from within” ( again, don’t do this in workplace or school, there are others also trying to heal and you need not. come across as a edgy one)

5. Keep a journal

Write at least one paragraph everyday. It can be about your day or how you have been feeling or a skill that you learned today. It can be anything. And apply the above rule here. Address yourself as the third person. You could even find a companion in yourself!

6. Be mindful

Some people are naturals when they come to mindfulness or being intrinsic in nature. While, some people lose the enthusiasm at certain points of life. Remember, life is not easy.

All you need is to keep yourself in present.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.

I’m sure you would’ve all heard of this especially while watching “kungfu Panda” . This is the wisest thing anybody ever said.

And if you are not sure, how that works, let someone guide you. Download guided meditation app like : headspace, cure.fit, sadhguru (he is a legend and you deserve to know him) . Do 15 minutes of meditation and tell me if that doesn’t change your perspective on a week.

7. Let others evolve too

Last but not the least, in the journey of making yourself special, don’t ever rub it on others. Almost every person you meet has a story to heal and going all “I’m so special” may annoy people who are still working their way up.

Loving yourself is not being afraid of showing yourself. All I ask is, be mindful about your circle. Everybody is fighting their own battles and you not adding one in their life is a deed you are doing for others.

Be humble. Don’t try to steal the show. The show is for everyone and not just you. But do make your presence known. Silent contribution is so charming that people would remember you as the girl/guy who had incredible ideas and not as the one who is always loud.

8. Do not help others just to feel superior

I’m not saying don't help others. I just say don’t do it to prove yourself to be superior. Because it’s short lived and soon when it wears off, you would start feeling invisible and miserable.

So guys, before anything else in the world, loving yourself is the basic need along with food, clothing and shelter. If you are unable to do that, you may never be able to truly love someone or receive the love someone else is giving you.

It’s a slow process, but the best strategy. Do it the agile way or the waterfall way, up to you. But stay focused and mindful!

Love,

Srivani.