Hello👋 folks, Shubham here.
I am back with another edition of Soul Letter 🗞
If there’s one piece of advice I can give my younger self it would be - Wait For It.
I had a pretty ordinary school life, hinged around academics. Getting good grades was always the top priority or I was made to believe so.
Bunking classes, hanging out with seniors, or talking to girls weren't in my alley. They were supposedly the cool stuff that nerds couldn’t pull off.
Basically, I was nonexistent a.k.a invisible.
This was supposed to be my identity for the rest of my life. All vogue things eluding me.
However, life’s turning out to be as colorful as a beautiful spring morning.
College + Hostel
Four years of college have been instrumental in morphing me into the person I am today.
College was to be an extension of my school life but it turned out to be so much more.
College + Hostel taught me life’s nuances that a course could never do. Academics were just add ons.
Dealing with people, handling dreadful mess food, managing my own finances, coping with shitty hostel toilets, studying for endless tests, the list goes on.
I didn’t excel in studies or extracurriculars but met tons of great people and fortunately befriended lots of them.
The best thing I got from college was life-long friendships.
PS: There are several people missing in the photo. Sorry, I didn’t post a pic with every one of you, but I love you, too :)
Trips & Parties
My inner party animal is dormant now. However, there were days or I should say nights when it bolted freely.
We had countless parties in college (especially after placements).
In final year, I attended more parties than classes. True Story.
Then there were trips.
I am not an avid traveler like my friends who rarely spend consecutive weekends in the same city. Still, I managed to go on a decent number of vacations.
The best part of trips is their unpredictability. Mishaps are bound to happen and I have witnessed several trip-haps.
A few of them were lousy enough to question my life choices. We will talk about them in upcoming letters.
Plus it won't bode well if my parents find them out through the newsletter.
Fitness
I have always loved sports since childhood but rarely took care of my health back then.
In my second year of college, my entire floor joined the GYM except me. As expected, within a week or two most of them quit.
Ironically, they spent more time doing unhealthy chores in their branded fitness gears.
Basically, their WHY wasn’t strong enough. Most of them joined because someone they knew was going(we all have been there).
Health became a priority for me by the end of third year of college. I can’t pinpoint exactly what made me tick. It just felt like the right time to finally learn pushups.
Since then I try to be consistent with GYM and meditation.
Reading
My below-par English allowed me to read three novels in twelve years of school life (two of them were summer assignments).
A part of me always believed people who read are awesome.
In my third year of college, I tried to inculcate a reading habit but failed.
By coincidence in the final year of college, my cousin gifted me a kindle and it’s by far the best gift ever.
I would go as far as to admit that kindle is my the one :)
In the last four years, I have read more than a hundred books.
Does that make me awesome? Hell yeah!
Writing
It’s hard to believe people willingly read my content.
In school, my anxiety skyrocketed fiddling with essays and letters for exams.
Somewhere deep down I had a gut feeling that I will pick up a reading habit eventually.
But writing wasn’t even part of the equation. Not in a million years.
And here I am writing my newsletter which will be read by numerous readers.
There was a time when I ignored LinkedIn the same way people ignore work emails on Fridays.
Now I have been publishing daily posts for close to a year on that platform.
The universe functions in mysterious ways. Probably that’s life.
Writing has given me a medium to give back to society which I deeply craved.
Final Words
These have been the key areas that let me believe that I am doing fine in life.
If the school me has the slightest of hints about how 20 something me turns out he wouldn’t consider himself a loser.
I am grateful I stumbled upon noble pursuits like reading and writing at the right time. People often trade reading books for binge-watching Netflix. Luckily in my case, the reverse happened.
Similarly, I met amazing people at a time when I was able enough to value them.
I still yearn for things with a gentle reminder Wait For It.
Patience brother, trust the process. Don’t let the internet rush you.
The higher power will reward you when it’s time. Till then, keep your head down and put in the work.
Hope you enjoyed this edition.
Signing off for today :) Until next time, Houdoe! 🙋♂️
Previous Soul Letters 🗞
