Growth Graph
Sweet Solitude, 1919, Edmund Blair Leighton
Day 0
I lolled in the chair. I was listening to a podcast. They were talking about some personality tracking methods like ‘how to catch a liar’, ‘how to be interesting in a conversation’. I pushed my chair back to the desk and then lifted my legs up on the front wall. I might have looked like a gatekeeper, or rather like the metallic barriers of the railway stations. I stopped the podcast. I really wasn’t in that mood to learn ‘how to be the alluring in a conversation’. I was scrolling down on my phone. I did some ‘liking’, ‘commenting’ works on the social media platforms. Then I watched some YouTube videos. One on ‘self-learning’, one on ‘Indoor plant care’ then one on ‘soul-talk’ and then one video popped up. It was a video on wellness challenge for body, mind, and soul. I was watching this channel for the first time. The YouTuber gave a flexible set of items. This set included, ‘meditate for 15 min’, ‘drink 1 gallon of water’, ‘exercise for 45 min a day’, ‘not to take any processed sugar or alcohol’ and the most entertaining one, ‘to take a progress picture every day’. That seemed quite interesting. After an exhausting day, I got something that gave me a refreshing perspective to uplift the next 15 days. Now the question is, “Will it work?" Or, “If it does not work, will I miss something important?”
Day 7
I accepted the challenge the next day. I changed some of the videos’ recommended works, like I meditated 10 minutes a day (it was tough for the first two days); I skipped exercise on Sunday; I didn’t take process pictures every day. Now, it is not only about how fairly or unfairly I stick to each point of this list. It is more of a calming reflection that I can look into. Now what I questioned myself was, “Will it work?” Or, “If it does not work, will I miss something important?”
Well, it worked, but in a slightly wishful way. I put some of my comfort ways into this, like ‘to do a deep cleaning once a week’, ‘to take good care of the indoor plants twice a week’, and ‘to sleep early every day’. In this whole process, I can say that I did not miss any of the deadlines or any other important commitments; rather, the days went on with some added joyous moments. In short, it is working for me, amazingly.
Every challenge subconsciously pushes us to do our best. They are psychologically boosted. This kind of solo challenge initiates us to nurture only ourselves without any preconceived notions of expectations. It inspires to take this whole challenge not as an insanely rushed way but as a welcoming gesture for a healthy lifestyle. This challenge completely belongs to the person who is there to work on it. There’s no one who would be going ahead or no one who would be lagging behind. It does not even push to claim a ‘healthy competition’ where we consciously or unconsciously set something to fight against another (in that state, we surely hold something, whether we accept it or not).
The mindset, “I want to achieve something but that is not competitive” can create a soothing belonging. By the way, it’s not encouraging ‘slowness’. It’s just a step towards peaceful coexistence with ourselves. It’s a way to keep away from the constant chaos of leading the chart. It comes with the acceptance of much-needed personal time with some satisfying shiny growth ticks. That encourages understanding the study of our personal growth graph. I call this encouragement, Ina*.
The non-competitive growth mindset gives us the clarity to see the best way to find our connectivity with others. And the following step goes on seamlessly. The unpretentious growth work steps up to inspire the next person without creating a suffocating box of unparalleled supremacy. And this gesture never creates any burden. That flow connects the growth graphs from one person to another exquisitely.
(*In Sanskrit, Ina (इन).—a. means determined or anything that is powerful.)