The Life Ahead — 6 steps to happiness

2022 to 23 was one of the worst times in my life. I went through a lot of setbacks and it just kept coming one after the other. The stress was too much to handle and life was filled with negative people. The gossip, the rumors, the expectations and so much more. And sooner or later it crossed my threshold and poof — the rest is history.

After a 6-month long depression phase of my life, it finally made me realize that it is okay to not be “perfect”. And that life comes to a halt only if you stop pedaling. I had given up on life and went into a phase of self-doubt and overthinking. I kept accepting what others spoke wrong of me, constantly judging myself for not meeting their expectations. And just like everything else, that phase saw its end as well. I got my soul and body out of bed one day and said to myself —f*ck this thing. Am done!

1. From that point onwards life worked wonders. The first thing I chose to do was to get away from all the negativity in my life. Be it people or perspectives — if it didn’t agree with me, I walked. Yes, they kept speaking badly. The only difference is that my back faced them this time.
2. I got back in my career — I was a passionate dev — but I lost the zeal with so many things going on in life. It took a lot of time but when I look at myself from what I was last year, I can see a hell and heaven difference.
3. I got into content creation — I loved to write, talk about different topics, and create something or the other. I got back into exploring more things that brought me joy. I spend most of my time learning from other writers here at Medium and sharing my observations when possible. In the process, I found a couple of good mentors as well.
4. I started vlogging — I started learning about photography, lighting, detailing and so much more that I secretly enjoy my videos when I get time now.
5. I fell in love with music again — I feel a person who is serious about music can never be bad at heart. What left me 3 years ago, became the biggest motivator to bring me back to life.
6. Socialising — This was the toughest one yet. But it turns out, it was by far the easiest one. If you don’t put yourself out there, chances are you will never find new people. And the world is a good place to live in. It’s the people that make it beautiful.

In short, it is okay if you are constantly being judged by others today. Chances are most of them haven’t even achieved a 10th of what you have. So keep smiling and make your bucket list. And start ticking things off of that list. In a couple of years, most of your so-called “well-wishers” will leave this planet. Give them a treat to remember you by.