1/ What world are you from?

To live many lives is to be a part of many worlds.

Shamikasmruthi

Aug 01, 2021

Life is most interesting when I get to discover new worlds.

To break into new worlds, you must first take stock of the worlds you are already a part of, so here are mine -

I’m an engineer, just graduated and into the corporate IT world.
I took up design this year, so I’m familiar with the design lingo and the ins and outs of most design fields - Graphic design, UI/UX, Illustration etc.,
I’ve been in a dance team for the past four years, and I’ve picked up the following styles - Waacking, locking, hip-hop, freestyle, shuffling, contemporary (A Jill of all styles, if you will).
I tried freelancing this lockdown, and I got to know about pricing, dealing with clients, time management, contracts, terms and conditions, the whole works.

These four worlds pretty much make up my whole life.

Apart from these, here are a few worlds I’d love to break into -

The world of music - composition, songwriting, rapping.
I would love to know what goes into the making of films, how scripts are written, the photography, the frames, the storytelling, all of it.
The fact that I can’t think of another world shows how limited my exposure is. That’s why I want to explore more.

As a Disney fan, I’d say I have parts of Ariel’s personality, in wanting to be part of new worlds.

Here’s the song if you didn’t get the ref.

What worlds are you a part of? What worlds do you WANT to be a part of? Hit reply and let me know!

Books of the Month

I picked up two books in July -

Everything is F*cked - A book about hope : This book made me question the entirety of how I operate, the belief systems I was fed, the ones I created, and an eagle eye view of how relationships and behavior dynamics changed over the centuries. I highly suggest you read this once you finish the first book - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Both are authored by Mark Manson.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant : Naval R is an Indian-American investor and philosopher who has much to say on life, wealth and happiness. The book is a compilation of his best tweets, podcasts and essays, compiled and curated by Eric Jorgenson. The book opened my eyes to a new way of approach to life. It’s available for free and you can download it here.

Finance

A new practice I’ve adopted when people tell me they’ve gotten their first salary is not to say - “Congratulations, partaaaay!” but “Congratulations, invest a part of it ASAP.”

True financial freedom comes from not trading time for money, but from owning a piece of equity.

The necessity of investing is to account for inflation - the prices of goods will go up, but the money we have stored simply remains the same amount.

There are multiple ways to start your investment journey (if you haven’t already and are a newbie like me). Here’s a great video to get started.

I’m hoping I’ll be financially free by 30, so I can do whatever the five-star I want. I’m 21 now. Here’s hoping.

Have you made any money moves? Do hit reply and let me know!

Tools and Resources

Here’s a cool website I came across that has a bunch of free courses.
Here’s a video that introduced me to intentional living. It’s one of my favorite videos by my favorite filmmaker.
If any of you are writers, here’s a writing challenge I came across by Medium, and they are offering a HEFTY prize.

A quote and a question

“Silencio Bruno!” - Luca.
It’s what Luca says to the voice in his head that scares or discourages him. We can adopt it too, don’t you think?

We say “Change is the only constant” when it comes to life, and “Stay the same” when it comes to people. What if ‘life’ and ‘people’ were exchanged? That life in general may stay the same, but we have the power to change ours? Food for thought.