Friday, June 5, 2015

Alone is awesome!

I usually never sleep during the night journeys I make to and fro between chennai and my native Thanjavur. Not knowing what to do, I either use to load my iPhone or iPad with lots of movies that would typically run for the entire travel or hear to songs over the entire journey. Hardly do i sleep. Neither in the bus nor in the train. Tired of watching the movie Taken 3 I thought I would not take a rest/sleep. Instead, blabber something in my blog space.

Being alone was hell few years before. I have felt most difficult when it came to eating. As all my life starting from kid to school to college to even after college, I always use to eat with people around. It was one of the most difficult transitions I had to make and adapt to eat alone. It was very difficult at first, then I found something interesting in being alone. I can totally be myself during this time. No interruptions or conversations although I do speak during phone at times which even slowly vanished away. One of the beautiful things or a life lesson I could put it is that the lesser dependency you have the easier and malleable you are. I have witnessed this concept in one of the famous movie speeches of the 21st century from the movie called "Up in the air" where George clooney talks about the burdens that come along the way when you keep adding stuff to your life.

Here is What’s In Your Backpack? Speech:

"How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel ’em? Now I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. You start with the little things. The things on shelves and in drawers, the knick-knacks, the collectibles. Feel the weight as that adds up. Then you start adding larger stuff, clothes, table-top appliances, lamps, linens, your TV.
The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. And you go bigger. Your couch, bed, your kitchen table. Stuff it all in there. Your car, get it in there. Your home, whether it’s a studio apartment or a two bedroom house. I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now try to walk. It’s kind of hard, isn’t it? This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down until we can’t even move. And make no mistake, moving is living.
Now, I’m gonna set that backpack on fire. What do you want to take out of it? What do you want to take out of it? Photos? Photos are for people who can’t remember. Drink some ginkgo and let the photos burn. In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It’s kind of exhilarating, isn’t it?
Now, this is gonna be a little difficult, so stay with me. You have a new backpack. Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office, and then you move into the people that you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend or your girlfriend.
You get them into that backpack. And don’t worry. I’m not gonna ask you to light it on fire. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake – your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. Do you feel the straps cutting into your shoulders?
All those negotiations and arguments, and secrets and compromises. You don’t need to carry all that weight. Why don’t you set that bag down? Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically for a lifetime – star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We’re sharks."

Pretty cool isn't it? I did not realise this dialogue to the full extent after I starting adding all those things plus debts in my own backpack. Pretty damn hard to move! Enjoy your alone time as much as possible!

Cheers!
Braga