(Mis)Managed Rules

The Artist's Garden at Giverny, artwork by Claude Monet

I unpacked my bags. It was definitely a mess. Some clothes still showed vacation traces, dropping sand from their folds. The washing machine would be cursing us for keeping that going on a loop. The circular door was overtly flaunting the white surf. And it showed probably the proudest snob with its unusual whirling sound.

“Forget that machine,” I snapped at myself while checking my emails after a good five days. There again, the sound of notifications had the jinxed-like roaring. I put my laptop on a foldable table on my bed. And then I gave my leg an adjustable position with two pillows. I looked at my swollen leg and murmured, “Hmm... That’s a ‘pretty mark’ of a mad vacation.”

The reddish toe was like yawping. It was painful and the white bandage had even got an undesirable itchy mode. Surely, I was flipped back to reality.

The stress meter was banging on my door. It was about to touch the happiness meter of the vacation. It clearly showed the intention to create the greyish smoke of doubts. I had a list of things on my mind, “Already I took a five day long break, how far can that be pushed ahead for this leg injury?” “How long could I manage to complete the pre-assigned tasks?”And, “Where is the scope for me to achieve a healthy work-life balance?”

We are constantly struggling to find that “perfect me” who can do anything and who is suited for grandiloquent stature. “I am a perfectionist... I always go by the plan...I don’t know the word “delay”. I rule the time...etc.”  The ideas are excellent, but is there any space to make these claims flexible? Or if we try to make that malleable, do we ditch our lover—the famous productivity?

I cannot match my work pattern with yours because we do not have similar situations regarding our work-lives. And each and every person is different, even if they work in the same kind of cubicle in the same office. The functionality of each person differs. During these days, I was reading some short stories. I read again “The Superannuated Man”. The slightly awkward man wasn’t wrong about his claustrophobic state. And also he is not alone because thousands still relate to Charles Lamb. Here, my interest stays firmly. We have millions of great self-help content. Some push you to be your best version. Some have multiple worksheets to work on yourself. But one thing is mismanaged. Everything is for everybody like rules for herds. Human psychology often works differently but we often ignore. We must have that line of decency for ourselves where we would be comfortable enough to think only for our better prospects. If it is ‘work’ then ‘go on’ or if it is a ‘step back’ then ‘allow’ that also. Allow yourself to make those changes in those books or videos. Mark them and improvise them for yourself. That’s not a fight with productivity. I call that right Ina*. You know how you are feeling, so give yourself the right to make rules only for yourself.

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