#My_Thoughts:
2025
+ February
> February 08, 2025: Another Saturday has arrived after a long week, but this one was marred by frustrating delays. The second Saturday of February was particularly challenging, as we found ourselves stuck in heavy and unnecessary traffic due to ongoing highway construction.
Our original plan was to start our ride to meet my in-laws by 8:30 AM, but I woke up late, around 8:00 AM. After all the morning chaos, we were only able to leave by 11:45 AM. We got stuck in heavy traffic for about 1.5 hours and arrived late at my in-laws' place.
Once we arrived, I took a nap for about an hour and then decided to rewatch Riffle Club, which is currently streaming on Netflix, along with my father-in-law. He is an action film enthusiast, and being a film buff myself, I suggested we watch one of my favorite films that was released in 2024. I love the action sequences in that film, especially the ones involving revolvers and rifles in the last 40 minutes. It also features some cool electronic music. The cast is perfect and does complete justice to the screenplay and the plot.
> February 07, 2025: The last three days have been crazy and hectic. There was plenty of work to do, and the stress was high, so I had to work overtime to complete my tasks.
Today evening, I took a short break at 5:30 for about 45 minutes to pick up my wife from her office. On the way back, we bought some vegetables and had tea at a nearby restaurant. Unfortunately, the tea was below average for its price. After having tea, we came back home, as I had work to complete since there were seven titles going live on the same day.
Since it was Friday, I wrapped up my work around 9:30 PM. My wife prepared tapioca curry and dosa for dinner, which I really enjoyed. We then watched the movie Identity. The film features multiple storylines, and the screenplay is very intertwined. Some parts of the story are confusing, and I'm not sure if that was the filmmakers' intention.
> February 04, 2025: It was another working day of the month, the first Tuesday. I had my weekly meeting with my manager, during which we discussed my career path, future growth prospects within the company, and the bonus situation. The discussion was quite disappointing, as my manager had very little clarity on what a career path or growth opportunities would look like, especially in our department. However, I don’t feel lost.
Meanwhile, I also had a conversation with a colleague about becoming a publisher, which is my dream job in the publishing industry. Being a publisher means having control over what gets released into the market to help the business grow. It’s a mentally and physically demanding job that requires a lot of work. My big career goal is to become a publisher at a leading publication in the world.
Later in the evening, I enjoyed Afghani vegetable momos with white sauce from Shifu Momos. They were delicious! Just six momos made my dinner the best I’ve had so far in 2025. The food was great both economically and in terms of taste—a true delight for my taste buds. I also had Slice (a very common mango soft drink brand in India) mango juice to accompany it.
After a quick early dinner, my wife and I drove to a nearby Lenskart to order our lenses. Recently, I’ve started experiencing headaches due to increased screen time. Although I have normal eyesight, they recommended that I use blue light-cutting lenses for better reading and screen usage.
> February 03, 2025: It was the most stressful day of 2025. There was a lot of work and a great deal of emotional turmoil. Stress, anxiety, plans falling apart, and uncertainty created chaos all around. Somehow, I managed to sleep through the heavy night.
> February 02, 2025: I woke up at 7:45 AM, only to realize that we were late for our planned visit to the Vadakumnatha Temple in Thrissur. The long car drive takes at least 3 hours on the highway, and the temple closes at 11:30 AM, reopening only at 5:00 PM. So, we had to hurry.
We quickly got up, took a bath, dressed, started my car, and accelerated. After about an hour, we found a pure vegetarian restaurant (I am a vegetarian by choice). The Indian coffee house is special for its red masala (made of boiled beetroot, mashed potato, pepper, and chili) in the Masala Dosa. We arrived just before closing and were able to offer our prayers peacefully to Lord Shiva.
Afterward, we drove back home and rested for about 2 hours. Then we went for an outing and visited a nearby temple as well. It was festival season, so there were large gatherings nearby.
We had dinner at Ottupura, and I loved the meal. Bon appétit!
> February 01, 2025: I kind of started to love living the moment rather than living in the past. I am going to start to live in the present and start building things around what I love and believe in.
I changed my January Journal in my pocket journal with the new months: February. I am planning for new things this month, like kickstarting my podcast back. I used to run a solo-podcast few years back. I am planning to restart them and have fun around it. This is gonna be experimental as its gonna be a solo-podcast where I will be talking on various topics, and hosting by myself.
Meanwhile I see that my work is gonna be more hectic as projects are incoming and the deadlines are close-by due to the fiscal year end.
On a positive note, I am gonna be happy and kind of free spirit this month.
+ January
> January 31, 2025: The days have flown by, like a deer running away from a hungry lion.
Tomorrow will be a fresh Saturday morning, just like every other Saturday, bringing a sense of renewal and new ideas to live and dream. It’s a day to focus on personal goals and dreams, to reflect on myself, and to be true to who I am. Maybe I’ll enjoy a good sleep, a tasty breakfast, or even take a nice, relaxing bath.
Saturdays are the most refreshing day of the week; not just because it’s the weekend, but because it marks the start of a two-day mini-holiday.
When I was younger, around the age of Kevin McCallister from Home Alone, I used to dislike Fridays. I dreaded that day because I believed it brought bad luck and misfortunes.
Fridays felt like a cursed day, and that superstition stuck with me until recently. It wasn’t that Fridays stopped being troublesome; I just forgot about the superstition that used to bother me.
But then came Saturday, a day that always made me happy simply because it meant Friday was over.
Sometimes, the reasons behind our feelings or beliefs are not complicated; they can come from a simple thought that we either hold on to or let go of.
Tomorrow is a new beginning: the 1st of February. And, more importantly, it’s a Saturday.
January has been tiring, stressful, and demanding. As it comes to an end, I want to take a moment to say goodbye to the short-lived 'January of 2025':
Goodbye, January 2025. I won’t miss you, but I will remember you for what you were and for giving 2025 a decent start, in your own way.
> January 28, 2025: There is always an urge in me to get my blog look good, and have beter readability. My primary goal is to write better and make it easy for anyone to read.
Today, I have managed to agree upon a design with my brain after som many rounds of iteration; hand coded with basic CSS. The colors represent the vibe which I believe are suitable for reading my musings.
> January 27, 2025: A beautiful Monday, with good breakfast: "Puttu". Puttu is a traditional South Indian breakfast. It is a steamed dish made with rice powder and coconut essembled in a steel pipe and steamed from one end. Once cooked, it takes the shape of the pipe. I had it with black peas curry.
I had pizza for my dinner: Panner, Onion and Pepper pizza with hot sauce. It tasted so good.
I truly believe that the world radiates a much more positive vibe when we embrace the idea that there is positivity in everything.
> January 26, 2025: A day for self-realization, a positive outlook, and understanding what is truly required. I spent the day at the temple praying and then enjoyed lunch at the community kitchen there. Later in the afternoon, I drove back home. After a brief nap, I woke up to find the milk was empty, so no tea for me; I don’t enjoy black tea. With Monday approaching, my anxiety levels spiked, leaving me feeling vulnerable. My thoughts became uncontrollable, swirling around like a tornado. Negativity spread, and I found myself unable to sleep until 2:00 in the early morning. I cried that night, reflecting on the wrong decisions I had made at various points in my life. But life is life, and everything happens for a purpose.
I am truly blessed to have a supportive wife; she stayed awake the whole time, trying to help me restore my consciousness and self-belief. Suddenly, around 2:30 am, a wave of positivity washed over me. I am totally unaware how that happened to me. May be all the events and thoughts that happened were meant to happen no matter what, without the question of "What if?"
I began to reconsider and see the alternative reality of life, where many turning points also had positive outcomes. Embracing these positive happenings is what is truly required for a peaceful life. All this happened in just some matter of minutes.
> January 25, 2025: As I was reading the book Build Epic Career by Ankur Warikoo, I came across a thought-provoking idea about taking career breaks.
To quote:
"Taking a career break can be one of the BEST decisions:
- It’s a chance to know yourself better.
- To discover what makes you happy.
- To identify what you’re good at.
- To clarify what you want to do.
- It provides you with CLARITY.
- But it takes courage."
I have long wanted to take a break, especially to understand whether I am on the right path. I have been continuously studying and working hard since the first day of school, and I haven’t had much of a break to reflect on what I truly need. My wife and close friends often point out that the major issue they see in me is my lack of clarity about my life direction. My parents, too, are unsure of what I am genuinely good at; they say I excel at everything I try. However, I believe that success in a career requires focus and a clear understanding of what we truly want in life.
While I may take various non-linear paths, it is essential to have a sense of purpose and to know what we are doing and what results we can expect. My life has been a whirlwind of academics, internships, jobs, and continuous learning to improve in a role that I am not particularly passionate about. As a result, I have become a results-oriented person, but I lack clarity and vision.
I have set two primary goals for 2025:
- To find and draft a clear life vision for my career that aligns with my and my family’s happiness and wealth.
- To work towards making that vision successful and to practice it in my daily life.
> January 24, 2025: At last, I have received the most awaited book of the month: Build Epic Career by Ankur Warikoo. It’s among the first few prints of the book, and I am in love with how Ankur writes. I enjoy the literary freedom he employs to directly converse with his readers.
I have been confused about my career for a long time, unsure of what to do or how to achieve something meaningful in my life. In fact, I was a high achiever during my school days and in college, but then something happened in 2020 that broke me. I’m not sure what incident it was that changed the trajectory of my career and life, but everything shifted.
I want 2025 to be a life-changing year, and I truly believe it can be. I aspire to build an epic career, and that desire has driven me to this book. I’ve started reading it, and I can already say it’s the best.
> January 23, 2025: I started journaling this year and bought three journals to use. I began on January 1st, but I was unsure if I should write about it since I tend not to follow the New Year’s resolutions I make every year. However, it has been 23 days, and I am using my journals effectively, so I thought I would write about them. Here are my three cute journals:
- The first is a small pocket planner where I write the daily tasks I am working on. This was one of the biggest decisions of the year: to go analog for my planning activities. Every day, I write down the tasks I need to focus on and stick to that. Once the page is full, I take no more tasks for the day, which helps me keep stress-free from digital clutter.
- The second journal is very special because it was gifted to me by my wife for the New Year. This is my goal journal, where I write about my career and other goals for the year. It’s a basic, undated journal with pale yellow pages.
- The third journal is a commonplace notebook. This year, I am starting to write down everything new that I learn and understand. This journal is particularly special because it is made with recycled paper and is eco-friendly. I really love its texture.
Another important New Year strategy is that I am setting up a better workspace for myself. I am tired of working while sitting at a mini table or lying in bed for long periods. So, I decided that I need to create a better work environment this year. I have transported my old study table from my home to my new place and will be setting it up for work and my studies.
> January 01, 2025: Happy New Year Everyone!
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#About_Me:
I am a first-year MBA student and content project manager at a publishing firm in India. I write on life, philosophy, coding, health, food and some random houghts.
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