Are you still chasing your tail?

Do you frequently catch yourself and others saying that 24 hours are just not enough for me or time flies and I have so much more left to do. If the answer is an emphatic Yes, I propose you go through this article; a quick glance will do in case you’re running short of time like always…
Sometime back, I read about the sudden demise of Ranjan Das, CEO and MD of SAP Asia-Pacific, from cardiac arrest right after his gym workout. He was 42, father of two young sons, at the zenith of his career and life, certainly not an age to bid good bye. Those who know him were stunned as he had always been a health freak.
I personally met Ranjan Das when I was a school going kid, and have always carried profound memories of his humble personality and ambitious words. Spurred on by that meeting I used to follow his interviews and write ups, whenever possible.
When I came to know about this, I just questioned myself- What could possibly go wrong with a person who believed in healthy living? With a hope to answer myself I started thinking about his words and those rare interviews I followed.
NDTV once had an interview with Ranjan Das, where he clearly stated that three things should be followed to live long and healthy life, namely balanced diet, exercises and adequate sleep. And immediately he confessed that he is pretty good with first two but quite dishonest with the third. He was highly ambitious, a man who constantly sets new target for himself. In another interview, he shared his experience of running in Chennai Marathon and this was his comment, “My initial goal was to complete the race and then it was completing it in 70 mins. Later, when I saw I had set myself a good pace, I shifted the goal to 60 minutes and I achieved it too, along with another colleague.”
After brainstorming for a day or so, I was surprised to see how this great man passed a message even towards his end. I just thought of sharing it with you all as I guess we all need to learn it before things get out of our hand. I realized that his tragic death is in some way a ‘wakeup call’ for people like us, who think that we are wasting one third of our life just by napping, who think there is just one life and we must cash in each and every minute, who are relentlessly pushing their limits. In this era of competition, targets and deadlines we hardly realize that we are simply pushing our limits. Do we in the hustle bustle of our life give a moment’s thought to realize that by doing so we are just wiping away few years from our life, those years which otherwise we could enjoy with our dear ones.
Multitasking is the "new - age" mantra which we all live by, even aspiring to become an expert at it, someone who others can emulate. It reminds me of the jewellery add where the mother is on the phone, at the computer, in the kitchen, helping her child with his schoolwork all in the same breath and may I add effortlessly. Makes one think whether it’s just one of those ads or is it the true reflection of the immensely high pressured lives that we are all leading. And it doesn’t surprise me that same is passing on to the younger generations. Day in and day out, all we strive for is being a thorough professional, an obedient son/daughter, a great partner, an excellent parent…..unfortunately the list goes on and on. We just want to be the best in whatever we do and strive only to achieve our set target, but always at the cost of our emotional, psychological and physical well being. And the worst part is that we hardly acknowledge this fact.

This realization was, certainly a ‘wake up’ call for me and hopefully will be for you, who are reading this. Now would be a good time to start giving meaning and precedence to terms like- quality of work life, work life balance and stress management. It is unfortunate that we use these terms merely as conversation fillers and never actually have focused on them. Well, here focusing, I guess should not be just limited to a goggling of the latest work life balance articles and watching some videos on ‘you tube’ followed by discussions with your colleagues on how the company/boss/wife/driver are disturbing you’re not so perfect life, which otherwise could have been perfect. Genuine focusing is far beyond all these. It’s going ahead and executing things in such a way that by end of the day you get some time to be with yourself to understand - what you really are? When you understand yourself, you’ll get and insight of your feelings, your wishes and your priorities. For example if being happy is your priority, you’ll gradually fix on a schedule where in you get more time for your hobbies; if being with your family is your priority, you’ll schedule your work accordingly.
So in case you are in the mood for some introspection and have your thinking cap on, probably these points will help you get started on planning a better lifestyle. If not, at least might help you realize where you are right now.
Is being healthy all about eating right and exercising? Isn’t it also about being happy and living?
Is it all about meeting your deadlines? Isn’t it also about enjoying the experience of meeting deadlines?
Is it all about winning the trophy? Isn’t it also about treasuring the moment?
Is it all about gifting your wife a set of diamond? Isn’t it also about making her feel special every time she is with you?
Is it all about paying school fee of your child? Isn’t it also about holding his hand and enjoying first ‘A’ of his life?
Is it all about helping your old parents with finances? Isn’t also about holidaying with them?
“It is true that we all just have one life to make a mark but my friends it is also a reality that we just have one life to be with our near and dear ones “
So, we better stop chasing our tail and start living.