It’s Never Too Late to Try Something New
Find your cup of tea.
Humans have always been in the constant pursuit of happiness, which seems to be very difficult to attain. Perfect happiness is like a distant mirage, where the grass is always lush, and the skies are perpetually clear.
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
It would be wrong to tag contentment to an object, person, or event. Instead, it is the feeling that you perceive when you are at peace with yourself. When you recognize every positive or negative experience as an opportunity for growth, you start seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty.
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
How do you know which action will work for you?
You don’t.
The only way is trial and error until something finally hits off. Because how can you win at a slot machine without actually trying?
My friend from college who was more or less on my same boat told me she’s been writing for a while, on Medium.
“You should try writing.”, she always said.
As someone who has been a lazy reader and a mediocre writer, I did not consider myself skillful enough for a platform like Medium. My writing is not as polished as it had to be, more like ranting. Besides, I had indulged myself in other hobbies, and complaining about my futile life.
A few days later, she texts me saying,
“By the way, one of my stories got featured, and I made quite some money.”
I was thrilled for her. I always knew she had the potential, and have also praised her work a couple of times. We were both broke, jobless, and at the very bottom once. At least she got herself a lifebuoy.
But there was this part of me, deep down, which felt toxic and unproductive. Let me get this straight, NO, I was not envious, I just felt unhappy about myself. Does that make me awful?
I took her advice, as I have on many other occasions, and decided to write. It did not come naturally to me, yet I did my research and tried to do the best I could with only one thing in mind. I’m not going to lie, but I did it for the money. There! I said it.
Although, once I started, I discovered that writing could be very liberating. There are countless times when I would still be up at 3 am, working on a new topic that I just envisioned. New story ideas kept popping into my head, and my work was all over the place. Accomplishment meant more about how many I complete in terms of writing, rather than the number of stories published. It felt rewarding to complete and read them over.
I’m not saying I magically became a good writer. Still a bad one at that with a million story drafts and zero published ones, and yet, I felt at ease.
Did I finally find my cup of tea? Maybe.
My Medium stats page would suggest otherwise, though I most certainly found one endeavor that made me blissful. Putting down words and thoughts made me feel more self-sufficient than ever before. It did not necessarily work for me the way it did for my friend, but there’s no harm in indulging.
Take away
“What if I fall?
Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?”
― Erin Hanson
You have one life and a million opportunities to grow. Take that job in a new city, ask out that guy you’ve been crushing on lately, sign up for that challenging dance class, call in a day off from work to just binge on series with ice cream. Break free of those mental restraints and social norms until you reach serenity.
Make use of every chance to keep trying something unfamiliar until something clicks. You are bound to have a few failures along the way, but learn to embrace it. Change can be more valuable than you presume.
After all, we’re all beings in this universe striving for happiness. And when you want happiness, the entire universe does, in fact, conspire to find you your cup of tea. Maktub.
