AN ORIGINAL PAINTING BY SHREYASI DASGUPTA (copyrights reserved)
I used to love reading and writing back in school, which was more than a decade ago. I would spend a significant amount of time gobbling up novels, the thesaurus; penning down all kind of emotions and imaginations my tiny little adolescent mind could conjure. I enjoyed that part of growing up when words could spontaneously flow and my mind could just wonder and breathe. Then Life happened and I changed. My mind had to be focused , my mind had to find ways through challenging times, my mind had to go through quite an ordeal. “ You’re a medical student, you have to be tough!” , “ pulling an all nighter , kid”, “ I couldn’t bare the sight of the blood and faecus, too much gore”, “Intern Madam, is our child going to be fine?” “ Sorry, we couldn’t save her”… I heard these too often and my mind often couldn’t take it. Somewhere down the line, I felt a tad stifled. After years of hard work, lots of soul crushing and soul searching, I was a well oiled machine , a “thorough professional”.
What we often miss out in our process of morphing is “self care”. We care too less for ourselves. I cared for my patients, my peers, my family, friends, my grades, my career.. but was that enough? We set goals, we work hard towards them and when we achieve them we feel a sense of accomplishment. But all these appear short lived. We miss things we used to love doing but we don’t find time for them anymore. We long for things we would love to do if we got some time off our hectic life. The feeling of “missing out on things” sinks deeper and deeper when we come to think of it till something hard hits us.
We realize all those professional goals, morning after all nighters, the kudos from the professors, the impressive job interview, the first car, the first apartment, the beach vacations did make us feel proud and happy for a while but that feeling did not last. We failed to feel complete because we failed to nurture our soul and truly take care of ourselves. So, before our time runs out, just when we know that life is short and unpredictable, why don’t we take time out to do things that make us feel alive?
Bask in the glorious sun and breathe a little deeper, feel the grass below your feet, feel the wind caress your face reminding you to relieve your worries. Read that book you had been thinking of for a while, treat yourself to that cheese without counting calories, pamper yourself with that head massage, take time out to plant a spice garden, make sure you hug and kiss your loved ones a little longer, write letters, turn on the radio, learn that ukulele, take the salsa lessons, travel often without waiting for your retirement .. do small, silly things every single day and have the “ time of your life”. Love yourself for all that you do and forgive yourself for things which you couldn’t do anything about ‘ cause life as we know is short but make sure you live it large. Take care of yourself!
I am currently based in Amritsar, freelancing eye surgeon. Fond of reading, music, travelling. Recently started ‘Mitralok Charitable Trust’ supporting clauses close to my heart.
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