What an year can actually do...!!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my small li'l world with this new blog 'Live Life 360 degrees.' The name of this blog has been the dearest to me and the reason being it gives such a wholesome picture of life. This is my first post in the blog and it has to be something special. Today marks an year to that one life altering decision of entering the unknown space. 10th October 2018 was my last working day at my previous organization and the day my long journey of sabbatical and introspection within started. This one year is conveniently split into two halves where the first half was about the 180 days sabbatical and the second half about building our dream organization(which is a work in progress and will be...). When I look back to reflect upon, I can just wonder 'What an year can actually do to one's life..."

Day 180:
"Many a times we lose ourself for a while only to get to a point where we begin the journey to find reasons to find our true self again. " Day 180 of the sabbatical and I wake up feeling so alive just like how it has been these days. My days are filled with so much more purpose and I am able to get so many things done in a day than I could possibly think of. The best compliment I get these days and which I love listening to is, "You look so happier now." This isn't about the external but this is something about the internal which is being reflected externally and that really makes me happy. It wasn't really easy getting to Day 180 this way and make a 180 degree turn or a detour to get to this happy place. It had its share of incorporating small changes and practices into life, making some life changing decisions and focusing a lot on inner peace and gratitude.

So the question goes to how did it all start?

Day 0:

I have always been this guy who loves doing what he does and do only those things which he really loves. I was basically someone who goes to office happily, works with all the passion, gets along with the team so well and come back home fulfilled. Monday blues was something I din't vouch for and my weekdays were equally exciting as my weekends. Somehow sometime back things started to change and I started noticing the change within. I was not the same guy when I looked in the mirror. I was a tired, unfit, slightly overweight guy who had lost himself along the way in the verge of building a societal successful life who almost represented someone who had no life left. If I visualized myself, I felt like all the cells in my body had turned grey, almost lifeless. I din't know how do I make some amends but I surely knew I can't be 'this' and I needed to change. I started questioning my own existence and my purpose in life. The word 'purpose' started fascinating me so much. It was as if I had to crack a code now.

Amidst all the chaos in the mind, I decided to quit my job and communicated the same. I was not able to answer the questions that came up next, "What next?" Even on my last working day, I was unsure of my journey ahead. 

Day 1:
So, the journey to the unknown started on October 11th, 2018. I knew I had to just start somewhere. Fitness was one thing on my list which I had always pushed and I started jogging. The first day I started jogging, I was taken aback at my stooped down stamina levels as I could barely manage a 200 mts run. I started panting with heavy breath as if I would die the very next moment. That's exactly when it hit me hard that I had neglected my health all the while and I need to consistently show up every single day on the ground. By then I had started believing that 'Consistency is the key.' 

I started reading about mindful eating. Its about being aware of the food intake into the body and differentiating between a healthy intake and an unhealthy one. I started consuming more healthy food and completely avoided having junk food. I completed my '90 days no junk challenge' during this sabbatical. It is always said that for following a fitness regime or a weight loss journey, diet forms a major constitution coupled with regular exercises. Mindfulness is about being present in the PRESENT. So mindful eating is about paying full attention to the food being consumed. I also reduced my daily coffee intakes to two to three from maybe five and started a practice of having my dinner at 8.30 PM as against the previous 10.30 PM. 

Before the very start of this journey, I was certain that I need to implement a few lifestyle changes so that I can get into this holy concept of a 'sustainable living' which is about living a life being more aware in the present so that the future that holds sight looks promising, healthy and filled with a very good quality of life. Terms like 'sustainable living', 'quality of life' have always been ignored right? Back in January 2018, I had faced a near death experience while river rafting in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand and river Ganga was kind enough to give me a second chance to life. There was something about that experience that had left an impact deep down. Anything could have happened which would have refrained me from even writing this post but I came back. It felt like it was life's way of cautioning me about the life I had been living then. It felt like someone shouting from behind, "Giving you another chance. Change paths and make the best of it." I had not ignored that warning ever since then. It was something that was always in the back of my mind.

So as I started running and focusing on my eating habits, slowly with time I could start seeing results. The small results were a hope to continue it further. The next question to be answered was on the career front. "What next?" was the question for which I wanted to find answers to. 

The first focus area was to understand myself better, know what is that I love doing, what actually excites me and what am I good at. But before that, the primary question was 'What is my purpose in life? What was the reason for my birth as a human being?' This wasn't any easy thing to know. It is about connecting back to the soul on a deeper level. It is about hearing your inner voice from the soul ignoring all the external noise. Once I realized my purpose in life, the next thing was to know how do I articulate it better & once I am in a position to articulate it, the next thing was to identify those tasks/pursuits in my life which will help me lead my life in a way which will allign my goals to my purpose. So, what is my purpose in life which I have unlocked for myself can be a different blog post in itself.

Once I understood my purpose & identified the means of being in that path, I realized that there are so many things to do in this one life and the work I do now as a Chartered Accountant is just one of it. My life as a professional is not that only thing I want to do in life, though I really love my work. The ground work was very important & I started doing a lot of things in those 180 days. I knew I will never get this time again in my life & made use of every single day. 

I started reading the book 'Start with Why' by Simon Sinek and that book really did create a huge impact on my thought process. I started working on the vision statement of our new organization and how do we want to see this firm. I met a few people to know their journey better. This period saw me read a lot of incredible books, watch a lot of movies, documentaries and met a lot of people with whom I had wonderful conversations. This was also the time I reconnected with my parents better. We got a lot of time to talk like before and the time we spend everyday now is just about quality time. A lot of times we keep chasing different milestones one after the other that we tend to take the people we really love for granted under the pretext that 'they will always understand' but not always.

Reflections:
This journey of 180 days actually changed me as a person deep down. My intentions became very clear and that had an impact on all aspects of my life. My days now start with nothing but gratitude for giving me yet another day in life & my nights end with gratitude again for wonderful blessings of the day. I can recognize my emotions easily now and can make peace with it. It isn't that I don't have bad days now & life is a rozy picture but it is just that I appreciate the smaller blessings of life now and that makes things better. I now take life one day at a time every single day. I try refining my thought processes every day. I focus on building deeper and better relationships now. Self love is very important and I have realized it well enough now.

This journey of 180 days has made my priorities in life very clear. It also now makes me start everything only after questioning the WHY. My relationship with money is harmonious now. Things are going on pretty well at the firm we started and is positive. The last 6 months has been a true blessing to us.

What an year can do in one's life?- The answer is an year can do a lot of things in one's life if and only if we want our life to change for better & work consistently towards it. Everyday is an unknown space to walk ahead and conquer(instead of just getting by). Being 'Alive.Awake.Aware' is such a wonderful combination. The journey from quitting my mainstream job of 10 to 8 without knowing what to do next & working on a lot of things knowing exactly why I do what I do was this 180 days journey. Everyday now is some inches towards the set goals and dreams.  When life gives you such an opportunity to break free, take off & trust your gut as it always leads you to the right path...

With Love & Gratitude,
Naveen Nagaraj