The Stepford Lives – A Social Media Story

If you’ve watched the 2004 movie The Stepford Wives, chances are, you already know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, here’s a little intro before I begin. This horror comedy is based in a small town called Stepford, where every wife is “perfect”, and by perfect, I mean exactly that – “perfect”. Every married woman in the town, always has a smile on her face, knows all the right things to say and the right things to do, and is the epitome of everything her man thinks she should be. She cooks, she cleans, she works out, she socialises, she is nothing short of perfect, sometimes cringely so, and at one point, the whole environment makes the sane couple doubt their own normalcy. Stepford wives are the epitome of all things pleasant, graceful, and positive, almost like they’re “too good to be true”. Towards the end, it becomes known, that the perfection indeed was too good to be true, and not everything you see in Stepford, is what it actually is.

As I scroll through social media, glancing at the perfect lives, perfect vacations, perfect relationships, and perfect work life balances of people, I wonder, if I’m in Stepford too, for everything in this world seems flawless. I certainly don’t expect people to post their lowdowns like overworked Mondays, an argument with the spouse, details of their fake sick leaves, or other unappealing aspects of their life that would balance out the perfection. I for sure know, I wouldn’t. But let’s face it, our very human minds, when scrolling through social media, consciously or subconsciously, tends to believe that this is how everyone’s life is all the time – filled with highlights every single day, and by our very human nature, we assume that the grass is greener on the other side.

Looking Within, In a Digital World

Sitting in a café, all alone, trying hard not to look like a serial killer, I do what I think I do best. While for some it may not seem like a big deal, to pick up a laptop and start punching the keyboard by the window of a neighbourhood café, in my head, I just climbed Mt. Everest. I’ve been so busy in the humdrum of life, that I never realised how deep into my comfort zone I went, and how long I’ve stayed there. Being on my own in a common space with nobody to talk to, simply enjoying my coffee and writing, isn’t something I normally do. Besides, I always seem to have company, if not a living human, at least a mobile that I bury myself into every five minutes. I like to be surrounded by company, to do things in the comforts of my own space, to not stand out much. So when I decided to spend a little time with myself, getting out of my comfort zone, I took the first step towards feeling awkward and uncomfortable, I took the first step towards being comfortable with myself.

And it made me think, how often do we spend time with ourselves, how often do we look within?

How Gratitude Changes You

I’ve spoken about gratitude before, and do so time and again. That’s because it’s the most underrated tool for change, and possible the most effective one. All the self help books I’ve read, and all speeches on positivity, often advocate gratitude. From my own practice of gratitude journaling, and learning to appreciate people, opportunities, situations and things with gratitude, I understand that there’s a reason this simple practice holds the potential to change your mind, and your life.

Dealing With Negativity Within

No matter how positive a person you may be, or working to be, we all have phases that get the best of us; phases where we don’t feel our best in, overthink, complain, let things spiral off control, have one bad day after the other, get overwhelmed, get lazy, or just let negativity hover in our heads. We are all humans after all, and cannot be in our best forms all the time. However, it is important that we deal with negative emotions and phases when we realize it, instead of just letting it pass, hoping it will disappear someday. If we aren’t careful enough, it can soon get the best of us, silently. So, how do you deal with negativity that arises from within, that brings unpleasant changes out? Simply put, what do you do when you don’t feel like yourself?

Here’s How You Can Make Life Easier

There’s no better feeling than looking back at realizing the little steps you took along the way, were actually huge leaps of faith. Life may be challenging at times, but, even struggles seem like a journey when you have the right answers.  Here’s how you can make life much easier. I’ve done them all and would love for you to give it a try as well.

Here’s A Simple Solution To Stick To Your New Year Resolutions This Time

It’s that time of the year again. Soon, we’ll all be pulling out lists, making resolutions, intend to keep them while joking about how we never do, and eventually give them all up, unable to stick to them, for reasons that  aren’t always related to laziness – although that happens to be the case too sometimes. ‘New Year Resolutions’ have become so infamous, that the very mention of coming up with a list of resolutions makes one look like a hopeful, dreamy fool. But why should a fresh start not be made the most of, just because every previous attempt failed?

Honest Unplanned-Leave Excuses To Tell Your Boss, Instead Of The Same Old Sick Leave

I cannot come to work today because…

1. My maid didn’t come to work today, so I got to do my maid’s work. You have a back up employee to do my work, but I have no backup maid. I am the back up maid. And if my backup in office is on leave too, the work can wait I’m sure. Ain’t no utensils stinking there.

2. I cannot find my Tupperware that I pack my lunch in. I need to spend the day searching for it since it’s the only valuable property I have, and will be leaving it in my will for the kids.

Life Lessons From a Struggling Swimmer

Swimming may not be a big deal to many of you out there, but for me, it happens to be something so big, that learning how to swim made its way to my bucket list a long while ago. I usually am that girl who sticks to the walls of  the pool, or walks around in safe water levels, and sometimes shamelessly sneaks into the kids section.  I finally decided to change this and tick learning swimming off my list, and took up swimming classes a while ago. Although I haven’t yet turned into a  mermaid, I have successfully got rid of my fear of drowning, I don’t go to kids pool anymore, and I no longer stand like a statue or walk around like I do in a garden, when I’m in the pool. If someone asks me today if I can swim, my answer wouldn’t be the sheepish No I told people earlier, instead I’d proudly announce that I’m a struggling swimmer. So while I continue my lessons and learn how to swim, here are a few life lessons my struggle with swimming taught me.

Don’t Wait For The End, To Begin Living

I’ve been watching a lot of Ted Talks of late, on life, bucket lists and living with passion everyday. Almost every talk I came across, is focused on life, but more importantly life before death, or after near death. Several speakers had one thing in common. Most of them had almost died, and the news of their impending, or near-missed death, made them evaluate their life, the choices they made, the career they chose, the lives they lived. As with these speakers, and many others in the world, life begins with death – ironically much! So many stories out there, of the ones who escaped death, and decided to live a life true to themselves, without regrets. And it makes me wonder, should we really wait for a tragedy, a warning sign, a reminder from life that it is indeed temporary, to start living the life we really wish to live?

What Are Your Distractions Trying To Tell You?

I have a terrible habit of unlocking my mobile screen often. When I’m supposed to be doing something important at home, like making an important call or writing, this habit goes beyond unlocking, to scrolling through social media, deleting unnecessary files, changing the wallpaper, to everything I think is important, before going ahead with the actual task. From binge-watching Netflix, spending too much time on social media, deciding to organize the entire house right before a big deadline, stuffing in junk food, we all have ways to distract ourselves, sometimes, without even realizing, what we think is important, is actually a distraction.