Count your

blessings
priorities

Letters from
Story Attic
Dear you,

There are a lot of things that guide our decisions in life- it

can be a deep dedication towards our family folks, a goal that
we really, really want to achieve, a lost cause, a comforting
friendship, a sweet love story or a compilation of tough
situations that we are going through- it literally can be
ANYTHING.

Tough to choose, right?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the control issues in my

own life and the constant frustration I used to have when
people did not handle situations in a way that I would like
them to (I know, I'm mean). It ultimately led to perpetual
chaos, lack of focus and a distracted state of mind on a daily
basis. I often felt like a blank cassette being played in an old
tape recorder with no sound, no purpose.
Talking of cassettes, if you can recall, there used to be two
sides to it- A & B. On each side, you could listen to
songs/recordings in a set sequence and I used to find it
pretty COOL- the setting up of each playlist by prioritizing
one song/recording over the other. No-fuss.

Just like cassettes, our life also has 2 sides where on one side
things are very important and on the other, they are less or
aren't important at all. To fill my life's side of A & B with a
fuss-free playlist, I decided to move to another city and live
away from my loved ones for a while. For obvious reasons, it
wasn’t easy to settle at first but slowly I started realizing
the importance that priorities could hold in anyone’s life. And
now I had plenty of time to THINK.

Will cite an incident here- I was returning from somewhere

in a cab one evening when I observed a little girl selling
nail paints to people waiting at a long signal. No one bought it
from her, including me.

However, the next thing I saw took me by surprise- instead

of trying again and convincing people to buy from her, she
ran towards the footpath, called her friend and started
painting her nails- the radiant smiles on both of their faces
was more powerful than the combined faces of all of us
waiting impatiently at the signal that evening.

Looking at them, I realized that the girl had her priorities

straight. She wanted to be happy at that moment above
anything else and it did not matter what came in her way.
Not even failed sales.

I learnt something that day. I learnt that it's fine to keep my

peace over the things that are not in my control. And no, it
doesn't make me the classic SELFISH. Just how the girl had
no control over how much she could sell in one go, we too
have no idea what life has to offer in the very next moment-
so no harm in doing what matters to us.

There might be instances when you want to be lazy in your

blanket and watch a movie but your friends want you to
show up at a dinner party or your family wants you to talk
to that distant concerned aunt- just check if their priorities
are in alignment with yours and voila! You have your answer
on what to prioritize.

Yes, it may take a lot of time and thoughts to put something

ahead of the other in your life, but I guess it’s worth it. In
fact, it’s a never-ending process- you'll have to keep making
CHOICES. For me, it was moving to a different city that
helped. For you, it might be a long nap, an awaited trip, a
packet of chips, a career change or maybe a long-held
conversation that may do the deed- pause and find out how
to fill your side of A & B.

After all, who wants to be a cassette of badly mixed songs?:)

Until next time,

Prachi