Letter To My Younger Self: Do Not Give In, You Are Made To Stand Out

For a young woman who feels ‘different’ from everyone else around her, life can be difficult. Here is a warm hug of a letter from your older self.

Dear Younger Tanu,

You are truly blessed to be the one who is different in her views, opinions, values and principles. Be proud of them. They define the very person you are. Own yourself and never ever try to change any of these aspects to fit into a mould. Do not blend in to the colours that the world around you wants to paint. You are made to stand out.

Invest in your growth – not just your physical health, but spiritual and intellectual as well. None of these fat pay cheques that you feel happy about, will stay with you forever. Moreover, stop being a snob, a spendthrift. You have earned it easily. But don’t spend it so extravagantly. This world of extravagance and luxury is fake. And you know that. So accept it. This is really not what your heart is yearning for. Quit the job if it feels like a job, where you are just busy in the business of looking occupied for no substantial outcome or satisfaction of achieving something. Quit it, before it wears you out. Anything that’s not helping you grow in anyway, infact is taking you away from the essentials of living a great life, you need to acknowledge it and start to move away.

What is the fear? Of missing money? And a luxurious life ? Don’t get worried. Trust me you will do just fine, because you would realize with time, it never really mattered as much. What’s important is that you take the right decision. Learn to let go. Learn to not be emotionally involved with your possessions. Owning more doesn’t take you anywhere closer to being more. So, detach yourself from all the materialistic pleasures that money buys for you.

Stop consuming all the time and learn to create. It’s immensely gratifying. Find your passion. Cultivate it. And if you are really good at it, it would turn into a living some day. Be true to yourself. Else, you are going to be just another heap of lies. Life is tangible, and so are your possessions. What you would take back from this world is just your experience. So what are you doing about it?

Join a yoga class

Yoga does wonders to all dimensions of human life. Do you want to really deprive yourself of being ecstatic without any reason ?

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Listen to music

Music is your life line. Don’t cut it off.

Sing

Music transports you to another world. You have a great voice. So sing. How can you give it all away ?

Learn a dance form

You love dancing even without music. You can dance anytime, just about anywhere. Then what stops you from cutting yourself loose?

Learn to play an instrument

There is no other joy as beautiful as learning to sway along with the tunes of a musical instrument. So give it a chance.

Read books

Tell me, are you not jealous of all those geeks who read? Tell me, you don’t feel inferior to them because they are just so different? You can’t become them. But you can read and benefit out of it. So why not start?

Write and express yourself

If anyone had asked you what would you like to become when you grow up, when you were 10, you would have said – a story teller. That’s what you are. You love weaving words and sharing it with the world. Then why are you walking backwards, when you are not going that way?

Learn the science of photography

You are a sucker for beauty. It gives you a high. What could be a better way of reliving your memories than through photographs that you have made yourself?

Travel

It will open up your senses in a way you have never imagined. That’s the only thing that keeps you sane, amidst a chaotic life otherwise.

Run

All those aches in different parts of your body will slowly disappear when you will feel the high that running will give you.

Give back

Visit an old age home or an orphanage. Spend time with them. You would learn to appreciate the basics that you tend to take for granted.

Just when you start indulging yourself with the things that you would love to be identified with, you will fall head over heels for your newfound self. You will treasure it forever. You will nurture it and protect it.

And to top it all, if only you can do one more thing, you would find peace and calmness within yourself and your life will completely change for the good. It’s an open secret – be mindful in all walks of life, especially about your consumption. Be kind and compassionate to everyone who you share this world or the planet with. It’s theirs as much as it’s yours. In no way must you harm or hurt anyone directly or indirectly. It’s not about following a particular religion which preaches non-violence, but just about being human – one who takes care of the lesser/non-intellectual creatures on earth through her intellect.

Lastly I would say, that life is uncertain and it never goes according to what we plan. So go with the flow. Don’t resist, but embrace the change. Keep an open mind to learn whatever comes your way. Be a seeker of knowledge and leave your ego behind. Do not ever criticize what you do not know. Never judge any situation or any person. You don’t know what’s their past. Take risks for what you believe in. Do not succumb to the pressure of losing something. Be bold and brave to speak your mind and the truth. Be vulnerable. Be beautiful inside out. Be yourself. Love yourself.

Love,

Future Tanu

Top image is of a scene from the Hindi movie Highway

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