17/More questions than questions pt.2

Sometimes the answer is a question

Committing to writing everyday might be the best thing I’ve ever done. In less than three days I’ve arrived at the answer to the question - what kind of a work-lifestyle should I pick?

Hear me out (and don’t kick me please) - the answer is in three questions.

“I have to choose between two ways - do I either have get a day job that makes decent money and leaves enough time for me to do things I love, or do a job that’s all-consuming but also something I love?”

“Do I get a skill that serves others and get paid by them, or do I use that skill for myself and find ways to get paid to do what I do?“

“What work would I do, regardless of whether I get paid or not because it’s so much fun?“

There’s no objective right answer.

In any case, I don’t have an answer, yet.

When I started writing this piece it was one question, and now it’s three. Not sure if I should be irritated with the complexity or relieved over clarity.

I find myself often thinking about the movie ‘Everything everywhere all at once”. If I could live all the lives I’ve ever wanted, would it diminish the effort it took to make each one of those lives possible?

If I caused you confusion in any way, I’m honestly not sorry. Considering we work almost 70% of our lives, these questions are work thinking about.

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Miks Recommends:

I found a few lovely newsletters, articles and a video that I would love to share with you -

1. An honest account of the misadventures of a Romantic Idiot by Samarth Bansal who has the kind of life and work lifestyle I dream of.

2. Regrets are resolutions - a piece by Sindhu Shivaprasad on turning 27 (something I keep going back to).

3. The possibilities of Priya which is a short film by Sourabh Yadav. One line really spoke to me - “I thought I would write about my experiences but it seems like I’m living for my writing” - my paraphrasing is not great unfortunately but do watch this ‘meta’ film of ‘how they decide to shoot a film’ as a film.

4. I watched ‘Jawan’ in the theatres and it was an absolute banger. Highly recommend going with friends who are film nerds, because they’ll find all the references and make you go woah at the right moments (s/o to my friend Jaihind!)

For points 1&2, I’ve linked the author’s personal websites and they are treasure troves. I insist you dig through their archives.

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Life Update:

It’s 8 AM on a Tuesday morning and I hit a lady headfirst.

She says - “Why are your eyes closed? It’s perfectly fine to keep them open.“

“Is it? I always assumed it would burn.” - me referring to the chlorine in the pool.

I opened my eyes underwater for the first time in my life, and it was magic. A certain window on the top of the building casts light in a way that creates the most stunning patterns on the water surface.

It looks something like this.

I’m digressing. The update was - “I can actually swim! The hands, the legs, they all move in tandem in a movement that resembles swimming, but hey I can keep myself from not sinking, at least.”

Which lead me to another question - short of floating in space, what other activities make you feel like you’re flying?

So many questions today. Maybe I’ll have more answers in the next edition.

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Less confused, still meandering, but trudging semi-cheerfully forward in a direction,

Miks.

P.S Maybe you’d like to read part 1 of this post?