You know how when you think “I’ve got this sorted”, the Universe throws a curveball? April was like that for me in some ways.
But first, April is my favourite month – because……. it is my birthday month. I’m not the kind who thinks about ‘the B day’ in advance, planning parties and such, but this was a special one – so, hey, why not?
I spent a few days interstate celebrating with my family. It was finally nice to be able to get on a plane and visit some place. I acknowledge the hardship and the effect of COVID in many other places around the world, including India where my family is. I sincerely hope that the situation eases soon.
Ok, back to what I want to share in this email. I am the kind of person who likes things done in a certain way aka OCD. So, when anything big is happening – could be travel or a speaking engagement or the photo shoot I had (yes, I finally got it done for my website) – I tend to fuss and stress a few days before the event. My aim is to make it go right. Now that I think about it, I sometimes put a lot of pressure on myself.
A photo shoot should be an event I enjoy and travel should be for relaxing. But if you, like me, are in a family and have children, you will understand what I mean. When you travel, you want to make sure you pack all the necessities – from medicine to hats to anything else you might need on the trip. I’ve often spoke about enjoying the journey and we all know that planning for a trip is more than half the fun. Because when you visit a place, the trip itself is quite short. And if I may say so myself, I am a powerhouse when it comes to planning and I love it.
Where I need to relax is the day before the actual event. I get all worked up trying to make it right for the trip and for after we come back, that I forget to relax. Does this resonate with you or am I the only one?
We all learn ‘habits’ when we are young and sometimes as we grow older, they don’t serve us. Yet, we carry it with us – unconsciously and sub-consciously.
In my example, if I plan well in advance for a trip, then everything is going to be fine – right? That too, if we are travelling within Australia, there is always a Coles or a pharmacy or we have access to doctors. But that thing I grew up with – a fear that if I miss something, all will fail – that is something I am working on and a lot of work is needed.
Besides my introspection, my photoshoot actually went well and I really enjoyed it, as with our trip.
I actually had another photoshoot in April (seems to be a month for photos). This was for a local community project called ‘Faces of Wyndham’. A really passionate photographer called David Mullins is the creator of this project where he aims to showcase the cultural diversity in this area.
I also had the pleasure of speaking to 150+ students from my alma mater. Personally, I enjoy these talks because if I can inspire young minds to take control of their lives, that is something I can do to give back to my community back in India.
Another nice surprise was being interviewed for a well-known news channel as a finance expert and the article should be out sometime in May.
The curve ball I mentioned at the beginning, let me share. As you all know, I work a lot on myself in the personal development space. Life was flowing smoothly before my trip and I was ‘in flow’. After I came back from the trip, I felt there was some block and I was struggling to understand what and why. I attributed it to the break in routine and kept trying to do all the things I did before the trip. It still – didn’t flow well.
And this is what I mean by curveball. I have a lot of tools in my pocket – from meditation to other things I can do to get out of this feeling. Yet, it took me a few days to get back into the swing of things. Things clicked into place when I went for a walk a couple of days ago and as I was listening to this podcast by Raj Jana (if you haven’t listened, please check it out), I suddenly felt at peace and ease.
All in all, April has been both testing and a fun month. How was your month? I would love to hear from you.
P.S. I still have two spots left for my pilot program (Ultimate Money Management) in June this year. It will be a 6-8 weeks course where you look at your current life and make a few tweaks to make it your dream life – just the way you want it to be. Touch base with me if you are interested.
