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Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

Sep 26, 2021 | 0 comments

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Here are some pretty random observations.

As some of you might or might have not noticed, wide legged pants are making a comeback.

I got a pair too. I loved them, but guess what was my mom’s reaction to them?

“These are from the 70s and 80s. Just a few years ago skinny jeans were in, and no one paid heed to the baggy pants. I have no idea why you’d like to wear these old ones. Nevermind, keep them if you want to.”

Fast forward to this Thursday, I was on a road trip with my family, and to keep everyone awake, I put on a podcast. It was a sci-fi drama about… a pandemic.

Well what it’s about isn’t necessary here.

What mom and dad noticed was the fact that the podcast involved only two characters leading us through the story – at least till where we heard it.

They pointed out that it was just like the radio. You are entertained by hearing other people converse or tell a story. You don’t need to be focused or give your time to the audio. You could hear it while you commute or do your chores. However, unlike radio, you have the choice of what kind of podcast you wanna listen to.

You might be able to connect the dots with this.

The point I am making here is that trends and history have a tendency to repeat themselves over a period of time. But they don’t repeat as they were. They make a comeback, with tweaks and adaptations, taking inspiration from their predecessors. We realise their importance and the shortcomings of things, fix them and re-adapt them. It’s the way of the world to better things and reuse them.

So this was just your friendly reminder that it’s okay to go a full circle and settle again on your older systems with little changes here and there that suit you right now.

What are some things that you have settled back to again?

Why Does Life Speed Up As You Age?

Why Does Life Speed Up As You Age?

Sep 19, 2021 | 2 comments

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“Dad, how much more time to reach the restaurant?”, you ask with restlessness.

“Just 20 minutes” your dad responds sweetly.

You start to get irritated and sink down in your seat. Even though mom says it’s just been 10 minutes since you left home, it feels like an hour.

I can bet all of us have been there when we were 5 or 6 years old…

Waiting for your mom’s call to get over to ask her if you could go and play seemed like half an hour, when in reality you were just waiting for 5 minutes.

But now, 5 minutes spent talking to your friends seem quicker than a minute.

Why do you think that is?

Why does life seem to speed up as you age?

There are multiple theories regarding this.

One of them states that as you get older each year goes faster because it makes up a smaller fraction of your entire life.

For example at 5 years of age, 1 year is 20% of your life. However at age 25, it makes up just 4% of your life. Hence, the same amount of time starts making up a lesser portion of your life.

But I don’t think that this actually happens because a day is of the same duration, whether you’re 7 or 17.

So it doesn’t have as much to do with the actual calculation of time, but rather how we perceive time.

(Good news, even if you didn’t understand this percentage theory, you’re good to go because it doesn’t have a reference ahead in the post. We’ll leave the time theories to the physicists)

The short simple explanation is that how we perceive the passage of time is directly linked to how much attention we are paying to it.

For instance, if you’re bored or afraid, or in any other unpleasant circumstances, you hope for the time to pass, focusing all your attention on the time, thus making it go slower.

As we age, we become more and more engrossed and focused on what we are doing (aka when we’re in the flow or zone). We also become less aware of our surroundings and our perceptions of the environment are lowered as compared to our perception during childhood.

Thus, when we focus on whatever is in front of us, we don’t pay attention to the time, thus making time fly by. Another instance you could take is being absorbed into gaming.

This explanation justifies the fact time literally seems to pass by in a jiffy when you’re on a vacation (or just having fun in general).

You’re concentrating on what’s happening and what you’ll be doing, rather than how much time is left before you need to go back home.

Yet when you look back on the trip, it seems like it lasted a long time because of the memories you made and amazing things you did.

This brings us to the Holiday Paradox.

While we are at the vacation time slips by, but when we reflect on it, it lasts forever.

This is because we view time in two ways:

  • Prospectively
  • Retrospectively

Prospective view of time means how we measure time as it is passing, or simply how we see it in the moment. Prospective view measures time by how much energy we spend. For example, a child has to use most of his energy to learn about new things and gather new experiences. An adult however, does not need to spend as much energy because he knows the routine things and doesn’t have as many novel things to learn. So prospectively, a day goes by much faster for an adult than a kid.

Retrospective view, as the name suggests, means how we perceive time when we look back at it, when we reflect on it. It measures time by how many memories we made. Even a 2 day vacation can seem like a long one if you have a lot of fun and try out new things.

So if your brain can stretch out time in retrospect because you made memories, it can also compress it, if you didn’t do anything interesting or worth remembering.

If days are repetitive, consisting of the same routine, it is gonna speed up time. A routine week – which is ultimately a kind of repetition – passes in a blur since you barely have any new memories.

Thus a week full of events and gatherings seems longer than it actually is.

Adding a few new things to your routine, such as a different routine, can make it seem like you made a new memory.

Now some would wish that time goes slowly, while others would wish for it to pass by quickly. But I think the happiest life would be the one where time seems to fly as you live it, but stays forever in your memories.

Recap for memory:

  1. How we perceive the passage of time is directly linked to how much attention we are paying to it.
  2. Prospectively – Being bored, afraid and focusing on the time can cause it to slow down, and being engrossed in what you’re doing, trying new things and just being in the present can cause it to speed up.
  3. Retrospectively – Making memories and having novel experiences can cause time to stretch, and repetition can cause time periods to become a blur.

Here are two of the videos that inspired me to write this post:

P. S. It was really challenging (and fun at the same time) for me to write this post. It was really hard to explain a topic like this through writing. Hope it made sense 🙂 Let me know if I explained it well and if you have any questions or discussion regarding the topic, I’d like to talk to you.

Why You Don’t Need Motivation To Get Started

Why You Don’t Need Motivation To Get Started

Sep 12, 2021 | 0 comments

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People wait for motivation to strike to get something done. Sometimes you get lucky and motivation hits you, but other times it doesn’t. What do you do then?

Do you hope that motivation will pass by and give you the fuel to power through your work? I mean it’s an option, just not a reliable one.

The solution for this puzzle is in the understanding of one very simple statement:

“Motivation often comes after starting, not before.

Action produces momentum.”

                                                                         – James Clear

Even though you might already have some motivation for a task, possibly due to  your interest in it, it won’t be universal for every other thing you need to do. When you need to do your assignments and chores, there is little to no motivation present, thus making it unsafe to rely on the motivation to get you working.

The first step is the steepest step to take, after that nothing isn’t as hard.

So when you get to work and see yourself actually doing stuff and making progress, motivation trickles back in. In your head you’ll be thinking “This feels good. I can do more of this.”

As a result, motivation tends to come after starting and not before. The magic is in doing the first step instead of waiting for something magical to happen first.

After you have started a task, the amount left to do will always be less than when it began. This tends to inspire you to just get the task done.

Moreover, when you will start and accomplish even the tiniest bit of the task, it’s easier to get back to it and resume it, rather than starting from scratch. Your mind thinks that a part of it is already done and therefore there is less work to do.

You can start by setting aside 5 minutes for doing whatever it is that you need to do. After those 5 minutes, it is your choice whether you wanna continue it or not.

However, after starting most people feel that it’s easier to continue doing it and get it done rather than stopping, and end up continuing their goal.

One the other hand, if you choose to stop after five minutes you’ll have still made some progress.

So it’s a win-win situation.

Recap for memory:

  1. Motivation often comes after starting, not before. Hence, motivation isn’t always the best thing to rely on when it comes to starting things.
  2. Action produces momentum.
  3. You can start from as small as 5 minutes.

How to Stop Being Overwhelmed by the World Around You

How to Stop Being Overwhelmed by the World Around You

Sep 5, 2021 | 2 comments

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Do you ever have a day when you’re  annoyed at everything? Someone humming a song, the construction sounds or just people talking makes your skin crawl. Everyone one tell you you are the one being annoying and irritating and no one is doing anything problematic. You just want to scream at the top of your lungs, “Leave me alone!”

Why does this happen?

The root phenomenon of the situation is called ‘sensory overload’. In simple words sensory overload is when you’re getting more input from your five senses than your brain can sort through and process.

Your brain feels stuck when it is overpowered by all the information and hence not able to comprehend.

Even though sensory overload is often associated with health conditions such as autism, anyone can experience it. After all, it is just our brain getting overloaded with information, which tends to happen every once in a while.

Triggers for sensory overload can include:

  • Loud noises or music
  • Crowded spaces
  • Emotionally intense people or groups
  • Drastic environmental changes (temperature, light, etc.)
  • Unexpected or unwanted physical contact (hugs, etc.)
  • Heavy traffic
  • Tactile triggers (scratchy or uncomfortable clothing, etc.)
  • Intense smells
  • Or anything that is an input for your five senses

Even though these things mostly don’t agitate one, when they do agitate you it’s because you were already overwhelmed by stress, anxiety or being worried about something.

What sensory overload can look like

Experiencing sensory overload is different for everybody but it could look like:

  • Anxiety and an inability to relax
  • Irritability
  • Tantrums (in children)
  • Restlessness and physical discomfort
  • Urge to cover your ears and eyes to block out the source of input
  • Stress, fear, or panic
  • High levels of excitement or feeling “wound up”
  • Desire to escape the situation triggering the sensory overload

For me it often looks like anxiety about something, but I don’t know what.

So what to do to get rid of this?

Overcoming sensory overload

It’s pretty simple, you might have even guessed it by now.

You need to reduce the amount of input your senses receive. You can do it by reducing or completely blocking off the input source, or increasing your output. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense right now. It will later on.

Here are some of the ways:

  • Avoid the news

Consuming news bombards us with all the grief of the world, specifically the ones you have no control over. It leaves us overthinking, and feeling helpless and anxious.

  • Stop overthinking

Speaking of overthinking; even though overthinking isn’t an input from your senses, it’s an overload because the more you think, the more processing your brain has to do. So basically, STOP OVERTHINKING.

  • Less screen time

You knew this was gonna be on the list and here it is.

What I mean by screen time, is the mindless scrolling we all do. Looking at all the posts, reels and stories gives us more things to see and hear than our senses can digest.

These ways reduce the amount of information we take in.

  • Sleep

I’ll be honest here. I have no logical reasoning why taking a nap can make you less irritated. But I can guarantee you that it does make you less irritated. Possibly because of the fact that you don’t consciously take in information while you sleep.

  • Shower

When you take a shower or a bath, all your focus goes to the sensation of water you feel through your skin, inevitably blocking out the sensations from the other senses to some extent. Besides, the fact that showers relax and calm you is no secret.

These were two approaches to block out the information we absorb.

It is exactly what is sound. Empty out the contents of your brain on paper. Write whatever thoughts are in your head onto the paper – as if you are thinking aloud. It not only focuses your attention on one thing, but it also allows you to actually see what is going inside your mind and hence you can process it better.

  • Workout

Just like a brain dump, working out focuses your attention on one task, exercising being the one here. It also releases the anxiety we feel in the form of energy.

The activity doesn’t have to be a workout. It could be anything that brings your attention to one point and releases it in some way.

Brain dumping and working out help you increase your output, thus reducing the final input.

 

Recap for memory:

  1. When you’re getting more input from your five senses than your brain can sort through and process, you are experiencing sensory overload.
  2. It can be triggered by things like loud noises or music and show up in the form of irritability, etc.
  3. You can overcome sensory overload by reducing the amount of input your senses receive.

 

Let me know your views about the post and what are your ways of reducing the agitation. Is there anything you would like me to talk about?

 

What’s a Better Choice – To React or To Respond?

What’s a Better Choice – To React or To Respond?

Aug 29, 2021 | 0 comments

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All of us have been in a situation at least once, where your teacher is dishing out assignments after assignments, your mom is scolding you for being on laptop or phone all day when that’s practically your school right now and the whole universe is trying its best to push your buttons.

To make matters worse, no one understands your plight and tells you you’re overacting, or being angry for no reason.

That really pushes it to the edge.

How can someone expect you to remain calm when nothing’s going your way?

No one in this world can be happy all the time, and it’s okay to feel angry or stressed every once in a while.

But when you let situations get the best of you, that’s an issue.

One might say that how we respond to situations is not really in our control, the situation we face determines that.

However, that’s not really true. You know how?

If how we react depends on the situation, then for the same situation, every single person on the Earth would react the same way, every time they face it.

I can bet you haven’t seen a single situation where every person reacts exactly the same way. Let alone other people; sometimes you yourself don’t have the same reaction to the situation.

When you are composed you react better, as opposed to when you’re already in a bad mood you see things worse than they are.

This just goes to prove that how we react depends on us, and not the situation.

Therefore, how we react to a situation becomes a choice.

There are two sides to this coin of how we choose to respond.

Being able to choose your reaction puts you in charge of what happens after you react. 

Some might consider this as a boon because they get to decide what happens with them. They would accept the situation and try to take the best step possible.

But, here’s the catch.

Some might consider this to be a terrible truth because this would mean you take responsibility of your state and have no one to blame but yourself.

Then again, how you see it is your decision. The fact remains the same.

How I see it is that ultimately it is your life and you are responsible for whatever happens. The reigns of your life are in your hands.

Moreover, when you reply to a situation out of your free will, not because of a trigger you are responding to the situation. When you reply to a situation because of the trigger, you are reacting to a situation.

React or respond – the choice is yours.

Recap for memory:

  1. No one in this world can be happy all the time, and it’s okay to feel angry or stressed every once in a while.
  2. How we react depends on us, and not the situation. Therefore, how we react to a situation becomes a choice.
  3. React or respond – the choice is yours.