At last, the weekend began, that too on a good note. After having gone through a rather tiresome and boring week, this weekend brought a refreshing and much needed change. Usually my days are spent taking care of my family, my three boys – my dear hubby and my 5 year old twins who keep me on my toes for the whole day except for those few hours they spend in school. And these are the hours that I can truly call my own time where I get to enjoy my solitude for a little while.
Being a homemaker I am thought to have a lot of free time on my hands compared to the working community. Well, the truth is that after completing all the household chores I hardly get an hour for myself, which I put to good use by connecting with my buddies.
Some Really Fruitful Girly Chit Chat, This One.
While I was chatting with my best friend Vidha yesterday, a question cropped up. “How would you describe staying young at the age of 32 when normally a large percentage of people associate youth with teenage and early 20s and people in their 30s are supposed to be preparing for the upcoming mid-life crisis?”
How do you remember to stay young? How do you keep your spirit alive?
Well, this was going to be a rather serious discussion. I thought for a few minutes and said, “Before we get married, being young is simply who we are, full of life, brimming with energy and happiness. We live each day to the fullest. Sadly it is the people around you who are in a hurry to make you grow up instead of letting you love life and enjoy it one day at a time. This holds true especially when you get married and have children.
Why is everyone suddenly expected to grow up, which usually means becoming ‘serious’ and ‘mature’?
In her college days, Vidha was the ‘it’ girl. She used to indulge in all sorts of adventurous games that gave her an adrenaline rush she absolutely loved. These sports used to excite her to such an extent that she could risk her life for one moment of adventure. Her philosophy in life – You get to live this life only once so live it to the fullest with no regrets. In this modern day & age, you never really know what happens the next moment. And I am so proud that to this day, my dear friend continues to enjoy life and believes in taking time out for herself no matter what.
Well, our intellectual exchange ended abruptly as my awesome twosome rang the doorbell. Today’s me-time was over. While I received the kids and started getting back into routine work, the thoughts from our conversation continued to linger in my mind, that with each passing day we continue to make a simple beautiful life more complex.
After I got married, I started caring (and sometimes caring too much) about everything around me, ignoring myself for many years. But in the recent months, I have deliberately brought about a complete change in my attitude towards myself. I refuse to grow old like this, rather I am making a conscious choice to Stay Young forever.
The secret that I discovered is that you must start loving yourself, appreciate who you are and what you can be. I no longer want to dress to impress my husband or any of my family members. I do it for myself. I want to look good because it makes ME feel good. Over the last few weeks, dressing up has increased my confidence tremendously. I am a much happier person now and the beauty of this transformation is that it now reflects in the soul of our home, full of feel good moments.
The truth is that we never really grow up in our minds, we just learn how to act in public. Well, whoever said being civilized meant letting go of your real self didn’t know what they were talking about!
