The Book Of Life

This New Year, I had decided not to write a New Year post. But some ideas kept poking at my brain and they won’t stop until I picked up a pen. (Trust me, a real pen.. not my laptop. I don’t do that very often other than when I am updating my lab book.) Just like every other New Year, the advent of this year also lured me into analyzing the lives of others and my own.

Life, to me resembles a gigantic book, an enormous book recording zillions of events. Some books are colorful, flashy and wrapped in pretty covers, while others are rather rugged, old and drab. Some are huge with several volumes, while others are just a few hundred pages. A lifetime comprises of decades and years, which are just like chapters.. old ones pass by and new ones come along, one after the other.

Everyday unfolds like the turning of a new page. The book of life engulfs all the varied forms of human emotions, some action, some drama, some romance and some heartache. Sometimes we glance through the pages of our past, with nostalgia, with fondness, sometimes with regret, but rarely with satisfaction. We always think that there was some scope of improvement. It is like grading an essay, nothing is perfect, nothing is an A+. But doesn’t it make us feel better to know that ‘that was the best I could do’.

The commendable thing about this book is that the characters write their own story. Some may fancy the admission to a higher power to choreograph our stages, but I think it is just a vindication to hand over the reins to a pair of invisible hands and evade the responsibilities and obligations that come with making choices. I believe that a higher power may have blessed us with life, he might be the one who guides us through our path but the choices are our own. And these choices lead us to the ups and downs of our life and the ultimate culmination of the epic called ‘life’. The book of life isn’t pre-written, we have to carve each chapter on our memory as the story of our life unfolds.

And if it is a choice then shouldn’t we make an effort to make it a worthwhile read for ourselves when we look back through the pages of our past. Sometimes we are so focused on reaching the perfect closure that we overlook the little things that bring us joy and forget to make the story worthwhile all along. After all these little pixels of happiness make the big picture of life.

So this New Year, in order to make the story of my life splashy and perky, I have decided, there shall be no resolutions to make or promises to make. I wont make shallow promises to myself about acting less crazy or more matured, swimming everyday or eating healthy, reading scientific articles or renouncing procrastination, sleeping early or cleaning my room more often. The only thing I have promised myself is that everyday I will do one little new thing. One little new thing.. which makes me happy. These tiny little droplets of happiness will make me an ocean of joy and my life will be worthwhile... maybe not for anyone else.. but for myself. This year I will see people I love, go to new places with them and drown my sorrows in Tequila.

So lets start yet another chapter in our lives not with resolutions and shallow promises, but with the hope of making our lives worthwhile for ourselves, the hope of new experiences, travelling to new lands and the hope to comprehend ourselves and the ones we love better.

May this year, actually be a New Year.