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Diwali celebrations at home: This amazing bestie taught me that it's okay to feel vulnerable



The festive month of October seems to be flying past so fast that I feel almost breathless. This Diwali, I celebrated in my new home and it felt great though it heaped upon me many new challenges. But the best part is when my closest friend Millie and her family came over to spend Diwali with us. Given the fact that decorating on festive occasions somehow doesn't interest me, Millie brought diyas and fresh flowers to decorate our place and her daughter Anushka decorated it so well that it brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. 

Seriously, the things that best friends do for each other - we can't ever understand it logically, can we? It comes from the heart.




After lunch, we sat and talked about crazy stuff, we chatted a lot about our mood swings and how the feeling of reaching the age of 40 impacts the choices we make daily. I'm not kidding - I feel pretty old right now. Or rather my system is beginning to feel its impact.

Two decades ago, I could party all night and crash early morning and still feel cool. Not anymore. If I don't get proper hours of sleep, I suffer continuous headaches throughout the following day. I have begun to crave for very sweet foods too, unlike the earlier years when it didn't interest me so much. 

Sleep has become a very touchy thing - the slightest sound and I cannot get back to sleep for hours, and I used to tease my grandmother about that years ago! These are these little signs of growing older that I have started noticing about myself - perhaps because I am looking for them like a picky eater.  Nope, my hair is still black and I am eagerly waiting for silver white strands.

Of course, the wise ones say that age is just a number and to an extent, they are right. My grandmother was always bubbly like a teenager whereas I was behaving more like a grandmother while I was a teenager. So, age is also about how you feel within. 

Millie and I were sharing our experiences about growing older and it felt cool to share it with someone you feel totally comfortable with and can understand which planet you are coming from.

By evening, we were full of joyous smiles as Anushka worked hard on getting the rangoli done to her creative satisfaction and we kept supporting her in every way possible.  I love the way she brought out the colors and shapes to suit her imagination. Since we had no crackers this year, my son joined in for the first time ever to decorate diyas and flowers.  It delighted me to see that he enjoyed it so much that he pitched in to do this on the following day too!

I love the quote by Brene Brown where she says, ''Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.'' 


Now I am curious to know how you share your vulnerabilities and whether it happens easily or you work towards developing it. If you have some tips for me, I'd love to hear from you. 

Do write in!

Comments

Ramakrishna said…
No one become older until or unless they loss their well-wishers, from your writtings I understood you have enthusiasm, this will push you through out your life to make memorible things,keep smile and be happy.Ramakrishna Math
MOHAN SUNDARAM said…
You say, "Do write in". Do you have any preferances like a particular linguistic group or a particular caste group or particular group of friends ? It is better to make it clear. Otherwise some "BIN BULAAYE MEHMAN" may come & blabber something.
MOHAN SUNDARAM said…
You say, "Do write in". Do you have any preferances like a particular linguistic group or a particular caste group or particular group of friends ? It is better to make it clear. Otherwise some "BIN BULAAYE MEHMAN" may come & blabber something.
MOHAN SUNDARAM said…
The mind is ALWAYS young. Only the body becomes older.

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