Find the Reason

Yearly Roadmap

The Magpie, Painting by Claude Monet

I had a tiringly messy week. My apartment got a mini-renovation. The designers, planners, and workers ruled all over our house. We got a single bedroom and a tiny bathroom to live in for those days. The first day was dusty; the second day was noisy; the third and fourth days had whispering expectations; and the last few days had long ‘waiting’ sirens. Finally, I felt that Dumbledore asked us as he asked Professor Slughorn,"Would you like my assistance clearing up?" And our house got a clear detoxification. Every old thing had a new approach; every corner probably felt the vibe of a cuddled-up makeover. The home surely looked loved. But when I sat on the sofa and looked around, I still had the not-fulfilled kind of emotion, as if my mind had something more on cards, as if I wanted more ‘mine’ kind of attribute.

I picked up a duster and a cleaning spray bottle. I moved from one place to another, cleaned some counter tops, kept a handmade pot at the entry way, dragged an armchair towards the empty place near the window, and ordered some other organizational items. In short, I roamed around to get the feel of ‘my’ place. Anyone would say, “Hey! The changes are very subtle. What did you do then?”

But that’s the way to make it more ‘mine’; it now has a reason to be called my home; it now gives a mischievous blink.

Let me be very cliché, my home looks ready for 2023. But here’s something more. We got a team of experts; they made our house look more aesthetic; they made that more functional. But then why did I make a few little changes to make that little more mine? An expert always gives solid and well-curated plans for any particular niche. We follow those steps for some time, and then those solutions get into chaos without a planned announcement. So why don’t we get a reason to make that beautiful in every single step? I would find reasons to add simple touches to make my house look exquisite in every single way. That similarly goes with new-year plans. We see lots of free advice; some even offer courses; some have multiple templates to track; overall, we get thousands of expert advices. But how do we implement those things in our new year? A sheet of resolutions –and then after few weeks that get overlapped and we entirely forget what we need to do for self-growth. And that vicious circle goes on.

The first step to utilising them in our lives should be to make them our own. Whenever you see great ideas, try to jot them down. Then find your best interest to make that all yours. If you want to learn a new language then get a tempting reason for that. You can make travel plans like, “I will visit Europe next year.” Or, you may select a simple hometown activity like, “I will join a polyglot workshop in three months.”

That one idea should be entirely yours and that’s how your learning process gets the boost to achieve higher peaks. Then the New Year resolution simply makes space in your routine. That is a personalised technique. The reason can be very simple or exotic, but this reason makes the steps for the better future-self. An expert will give you ideas to get better results but you give yourself the reason to achieve that. Both need cooperation and connectivity. I call that reason Ina*.

Have you seen the bird in snow? That one is nature’s personal touch. That shiny white background gets the reason to see beyond winter.

(*In Sanskrit, Ina (इन).—a. means determined or anything that is powerful.)