068b – diwali but this post is barely about diwali

It’s been a busy three days. We’re celebrating Diwali here in India. I posted a bit already on Instagram about how it ended up being a bit too much for me, especially since I’m celebrating in India after six whole years. It’s mostly over, but I’ve been thinking of regret and “fomo” a lot. On Friday, I was sensing increasing anxiety about the festival, the parties, the firecrackers etc and I was wondering why I wasn’t able to surrender to it all. I was also wondering if I would regret it later, whether I would miss not spending enough time with the family and friends around me while I have them.

But I’ve been thinking about the last few years, and while I did miss spending time with family/friends when I wouldn’t get to see them for many months, I don’t think I’ve missed “big” events too much.

But I’ve also been thinking of this all from the sensitivity lens, and I wonder when things got so intense. Like I don’t remember being bothered too much by loud noises, events, overstimulation etc when I was a kid. 

I think part of it has to do with our collective lowkey-obsession with our physical forms, which always seems to increase around events etc. Now, I do understand why some people like to dress up, etc, but I think there is a bit of an expectation for everyone to do it, and that is what I’m not too fond of. I specifically remember times in my life where I’ve actually really enjoyed events— and those were times where the people I was hanging with weren’t too form-obsessed, where we were doing a lot more than just clicking pictures, commenting on each other’s outfits, etc. 

I did also get a haircut yesterday that I didn’t end up liking (and I miss my longish hair) so maybe that’s got me a bit annoyed as well. 

Talking to my sister about everything really helps though. We spoke after almost 4-5 days today and it’s nice that we’re now able to put some gaps between interactions. (Since our phone calls tend to get pretty long and hence time-consuming). We’ve actually been weirdly in sync about life stuff over the last couple months. We were going through what felt like slumps throughout August and September and somehow came out of them together as October came around. 

I often wonder what the point of these journal-entries-like word-vomits is (ie is there a point to making them public?)— and I’m going to come back to this question soon. Sometimes I feel like I’m being lazy when I write these. But let’s see, I want to have sufficient reasons to why I’m doing this in public. I know I had reasons when I’d started but lately I can’t remember them. Or be convinced by them. I know they hold value for me— more on that later— but I want to be sure of the reasons why I’m doing this in public. Otherwise it’s just vulnerability for vulnerability’s sake and I don’t necessarily need that in my life at the moment. 

I feel better now, though. Man, making space for all the unpleasant thoughts in your brain feels so good. 

044b – three weeks of living at my parents’ house 

Man, it’s been tough. In the last year or so, I’ve spent a lot of time at my parents’ house. And though it always does come with its share of hardships (I call them “red dots”), it’s been a little harder this time. Primarily because everyone thinks that because I’m more “free” (ie because I don’t have a job), they are entitled to more of my time. Or well, maybe not everyone, but my grandmother definitely seems to think so. 

My sister was around for the last couple weeks so that was relatively nicer, since I absolutely love having her around (and so does everyone else). But now that she’s left, my grandmother thinks that she doesn’t “have anyone”. 

Okay maybe this is going to be a grandmother rant more than anything else. She’s 83, and doesn’t really have a good relationship with anyone. She hasn’t treated her kids (one of them is my dad) very well throughout her life and is now (I think) suffering the consequences of her actions. Old age is of course difficult for most people (I guess), but I don’t know, it feels really difficult to take care of her. 

Overall, I’ve been questioning some things as well. ie how much suffering can I see in front of me? How much of myself can I actually sacrifice just to attempt to ease her suffering a bit, though any of this sacrifice or charity (of my time, for example) doesn’t actually make her feel better on a deep level, which then makes me wonder whether there’s any point to my sacrifice at all. 

I think I just need to set some boundaries. ie know my boundaries. I will always get frustrated when she wakes me up in the morning or noon or asks me to have meals with her, so that’s something I can allow myself to feel. But what I can do is spend some time (around 20-30 minutes) once in a couple days talking to her, and then even if that isn’t enough for that is eventually not my problem.  

Had some small arguments with my mother as well, but I think they’re small in the grand scheme of things. My parents have overall been quite understanding of me, my preferences, etc. So that’s really nice of them and I appreciate it. (I probably need to tell them that, since I know one of their complaints is that I don’t appreciate them enough)

However I know that living here isn’t very sustainable, so I definitely need to move by July, latest. 

Some things are nice though. It’s nice to have regular food, and two nice balconies, and most things smoothly running. It’ll obviously take some time to get that all once I move, wherever I move. And obviously it’s nice to save a bit of money as well. 

I’m slowly trying to find time and solitude to engage in mini creative activities which has been really fulfilling. Also finished reading “Steal Like An Artist” (really short book, highly recommend for anyone) and started working on some the recommended things mentioned in that and that feels really good too. 

So anyway, that’s what’s been up. Write soon! 

044a – jetlag, first impressions

Jetlag is real. And not great. I thought I finally beat it earlier but I guess not. I’m up at 4am, though I did catch around 5 hours of sleep, I wish I’d been able to sleep a little longer. I don’t know whether it was my brain or the rest of my body that woke me up today, but I’m not going to think too much about it. I have a relatively early morning thing anyway, so maybe I’ll just stay up for the rest of the day. 

The week is slowly coming towards an end, and it’s been quite interesting, to say the least. The last week was probably one of the hardest weeks of my life. Moving was quite.. a lot. Both logistically and emotionally. And of course, it was followed by many “Oh god what have I done”s for almost two days after I’d landed here in Delhi. Surprisingly, talking to mom helped the most. I hadn’t really been able to lean on her for any emotional support over the last couple months, so that was a nice surprise.

Anyway, there’s a lot of good things to note. I’m realising the “break” part of things (ie the freedom from work) does feel good. I’m also realising I don’t really lack motivation or energy, just focus (ie big picture stuff) essentially. I’m decent at focusing on “an activity” for a few hours when I’m doing it.

Something I don’t enjoy at all is texting. For example, I really need to make new friends, talk to more people to collaborate with them, but ugh I hate the texting part, maybe I can (should) ask them to switch to calls instead. 

I’m definitely afraid of the logistical things here. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to learn to drive here or not, I went for practice with my sis today and it was okay, doable, but I don’t know if I can do it alone. It’s quite tough. But I want the option. I want the ability. Let’s see. 

Overall though, it’s nice to be among family and friends. Something I missed while living in Amsterdam was getting to hang with kids. (I had some family in San Francisco so I was still getting some quality time with my nieces, which was nice) but in Amsterdam this was completely missing. My sister and I went to meet a family friend of ours today and they have a 10-year-old son, and it was really nice to talk to him for a bit! He’s super sharp and really interesting to talk to. 

I’m going for a backstreet boys concert tonight, lol. I’ve literally only heard two songs of theirs, so we’ll see how that goes.