So, after over six years of stay, I finally moved house last week. It was a bitter-sweet moment. On one hand I was excited to move because it is closer to my work but on the other hand, leaving behind a place you called “home” for six years wasn’t easy. Ever since I moved to Bangalore in to pursue my career, I have stayed at this place, sheltering me through all the highs and lows. Had really wonderful times as well as tough ones. But I grew out of a college boy into an adult in this house. So there is this attachment towards it. But as it goes — All things must pass.
Get off your ass
“You create your own universe as you go along.” — Sir Winston Churchill
When there is a huge task ahead of us, we naturally tend to worry over it and fail to even start. Looking at the effort that we need to go through we decide that the day is gonna be long or there are gonna be these many roadblocks. But one thing I realised is that, nothing can be accomplished without getting off our ass and just starting somewhere.
This was a festival week in the place that I stay and most of the shops/services were shut down for the weekend. But transferring the internet and gas connection was of utmost importance and was on the top of my to-do list. But thinking about going all the way to their offices in this weather made me feel de-motivated. but I had decided that I was not going to sit down until I get everything done. So I headed straight to the gas office and thankfully, they were working on weekend. I was able to submit my transfer request and get it done in few minutes. Same with Internet. By the time I was back home, I was feeling accomplished and that’s a feeling that I love.
Do not put off things
It’s easy to put off things just for instant gratification. For that moment you might feel great by procrastinating and will end up watching two seasons of Daredevil. But later you have to face this mountain of things that you have put off. Though the instant gratification makes you feel good at the moment, the constant reminder that you have a backlog will keep haunting you. You have to face the work either in the present or in the future.
When I wanted to shift my internet service provider, I reached out to the customer care. They instructed me to raise a service request and gave five days turn around time. But thankfully, I got a call the very next day (Sunday) from the ISP technician telling me that he is ready to come and finish the wiring in case I was available. Now, my new house and old house are separated by a distance of around 23 kilometers. This translates to around an hour and a half in Bangalore traffic. Even though it was tiring to go across the city in the hot afternoon, I did. The technician was able to connect the cables and lay down the wiring. What would’ve taken a five day wait, was done in a day.
Life’s a boomerang
What you give is what you get. Be good to people, good things will happen to you. I don’t know how to explain this but that is what I have seen. It’s easy to judge someone. Especially when you have had unpleasant experiences in the past. But not everybody’s the same. Whenever we’ve moved houses, always the neighbours have bid us farewell in the best possible way. Never once have we seen anyone feeling happy because we were moving out. Main reason for this is the way my mom is.
She is a very social person with a very big heart. She always does good for others and is very social with them. I might know only few of the neighbours but the whole locality knows her. Since she is grateful and always good to others, people are fond of her. So in the end, how you are to others is how they are going to be with you. So better be good to everyone.
Change is good
It’s easy to get stuck in life. Sometimes due to the comfort of being in the same state as ever and sometimes due to the fear of change. For me, being in this house was really comfortable. I was very used to the house and the surroundings that I never wanted to move out or even think of a new place to stay. But this started affecting my decisions. Since my house was on one side of the town, I was always hesitating to go to the more happening places in the city just because of the commute.
When you become settled in a comfort zone, you become very limited. Your choices become limited and everything decision you make will be a direct result of you deciding to stay within your comfort zone. Moving was a big undertaking, but is was an effort worth it. I am in a better house in a better part of the city. I was a result of making a choice to put in some effort and bring about a change. Once you accomplish this change, you feel fulfilled.
Reward the worthy
As a part of my moving process, I had to accept services from many different people and companies. I had to take help from my internet service provider to help me migrate my connection to the new location, had to call packers and movers to help me shift my stuff to the new location etc. Seldom do we think about how much they provide us.
We crib about our bills and payments for these services. But we need to take a step back and think about what difference they are making in our life with their services. Imagine spending a day without internet. The pain becomes evident. Though they provide the service even before we pay them, we still crib and cry when it comes to bill payment. Give with gratitude. Pay your bills thanking them for their services. You are paying for something that you’ve already taken, so there is nothing to feel bad about.
Less commute is better
My previous house was far from work where on a normal day it took almost an hour and half to commute. This meant a total of three hours of unproductive time. Now being closer to office it takes a total of 40–50 minutes. This gives me back over two hours. This is huge considering a day is 24 hours.
The additional time is now utilised in being productive and writing everyday. I feel good thinking it takes much less time to reach office everyday!
Reboot
Sometimes, life requires a re-boot. There is nothing wrong in breaking the norm and changing the way of life.
Originally published at neoelemento.com on April 16, 2016.
