The Mindful Nepali

Tonight’s special. Why? Because my beloved Chelsea is back on the pitch for the 2020/2021 season of the Premier League. If you’re a football fanatic, you will understand my excitement. If you’re not, there’s a good chance you’ve wondered why people allow the result of ’22 individuals running after a ball for 90 minutes’ dictate their moods. 

There’s a lot of emotional investment in scrolling and refreshing Twitter for the latest team-news while waiting for the game, waking up at midnight in anticipation of a good showing from your team and having to deal with possible disappointment during the game (this might linger for over a week).

Regardless of whether you are into football or not, the point here is this: what burdens are you willing to take up? Not everyone will want to take up the same burdens as you. You have to decide what matters to you. Then, you have to take responsibility for the ups and downs you experience as a consequence of being emotionally invested in something. 

Just like a non-football lover might not understand why someone would compromise on their sleep to watch a game of football, there are countless examples of how someone taking up a particular type of burden makes no sense to the other:

• An employee unwilling to risk his stable job doesn’t understand why his colleague wants to risk it all to start a company. The colleague doesn’t understand how the former can be okay with such a ‘dreadful’ job.
• A non-religious family member can’t fathom why her family is so anxious about the upcoming puja at home.
• Someone who was never drawn to formal education might not see the point of another person juggling work and studies for a double degree.
• A person with no interest in plants might not be able to understand why his partner wants to spend time worrying about growth of her plants.
• Someone with no interest in cars might be puzzled by another’s worry of not having upgraded her vehicle this year.
  
  And the list goes on..
  Someone’s gold is another’s garbage. This leaves us with two thoughts:
  
  1. Are we deliberate about our choices? Because ultimately, we will be experiencing both the highs and lows that come as a result.
  
  2. Perhaps when people give us unsolicited advice, they don’t mean to hurt or harm us but are just speaking from the point of reference of whatever burden(s) make sense to them?
  
  What burdens are you willing to put up with to have a shot at experiencing the positive emotions you anticipate in your selected journey?
  
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