Random Musings 😏, Part-19
Soul Letter #56
Hello👋 folks, Shubham here.
I am back with another edition of Random Musings.
The Best Party Ever
I have witnessed some epic nights, the details of which can’t be revealed because my mom reads my newsletter now.
The College Farewell was definitely one of the best parties ever.
College kids make up a huge chunk of my reader base and might feel I am adding salt to their wounds since most of them haven’t had a full glimpse of their campuses.
Sorry guys, but seriously, it was legendary.
A fascinating fact is that we don’t have a single photo of that party. Which is odd considering that it was the last time all of us were hanging out together.
People would prefer to capture these moments, yet no one did.
I believe the reason was nobody wanted to accept that the magical journey was reaching its end. After all, when’s the next time the entire gang will be together?
Four years that completely changed us, left us with irreplaceable souvenirs.
Soon we were going to walk into the real world instead of bunking classes or hanging out at the cafeteria.
The mix of emotions was an overwhelming experience.
Happiness, gratitude, contentment for everything college offered us, and sadness, regret, despair as all this would end soon.
I have a vivid recollection of every detail of that night.
Emotions got the better of us.
I had intimate one-on-one talks with friends, ex-friends, and strangers. It was possibly the last night together and the aim was to thank every individual and clear any remaining differences.
It would have been great if we had taken a few photos, but maybe no photos certify how much we enjoyed it.
Bookshelf 📚
I didn’t read any new book, therefore, I will share something from an old one: The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey.
Are competitions healthy?
There are two contradictory schools of thought. One believes competitions help us grow while the other claims it creates friction among us.
Tim isn’t a big fan of competitions. He feels people start to gauge their self-worth based on how they perform in these events, which is ludicrous. One doesn’t become less of a man if they perform poorly, however many believe so.
Only the winners are respected, while no heed is given to the other participants. And in all this fuss, we forget the love for the game we are playing.
He uses surfing as an example to explain his ideology of competition.
The goal of surfing is to reach the beach. A surfer can surf on a medium-sized wave, yet he waits for the biggest one.
Why?
Because of the challenge it presents.
Overcoming hard obstacles helps us reach our true potential.
Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached. - The Inner Game of Tennis
Competitions are healthy if your self-image isn’t dependent on the results. The accurate definition of winning is to try to win against top opponents while playing your pure game.
A Childhood Memory
Once at a wedding, I crashed into a pillar while playing.
I was being chased by other kids and decided to evade them by running through the tent.
Little did I know there’s a huge surprise waiting. A pillar was hidden behind the tent cloth.
The collision was head-on, resulting in a red Niagara Falls.
There was chaos all around.
My parents took me to a hospital immediately. Since it was a suburban area, the hospital infrastructure was a bit outdated.
They gave me stitches. My dad actually fainted while I was being treated.
After the tragedy, the coolest thing was when I went back to school. I was in the fourth standard and probably the only student in the class who had stitches.
The Band-Aid on my eyebrow to protect the stitches made me look like a total badass.
Kids were drooling at my heroic story as if I came back from a war.
Here’s the fun part. The summer vacation was to start within a couple of days when I went back.
I knew my fame was short-lived and wanted to savor every moment.
Therefore, on the last day before vacation, I did a completely useless thing.
I changed the Band-Aid in front of my friends to flaunt my stitches.
Frankly, there was no need to do so, but I told everyone that the doctor had instructed me to keep changing them.
I know it’s silly but I didn’t want to miss the golden opportunity to showcase my battle scars one last time.
LinkedIn Poll
The result of last week’s LinkedIn poll is out.
It was a tight one.
Apparently more people feel that not using your phone after 10 pm is odder than having never watched Harry Potter movies.
By the way, I forgot to vote in this :(
Hope you enjoyed this edition.
Signing off for today :) Until next time, Houdoe! 🙋♂️
Previous Soul Letters 🗞
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