Enough

Hello again, after a (very) long gap!!!

My track record with ‘fish pets’ is not great.

Few years ago, I stayed at a my relative’s place for a week. They had a nice fish tank, with a lot of pretty looking orangey fishes (Parrot Fish?). I spent a lot of time, admiring the antics of the fishes. As soon as I got close to the tank, the fishes used to come up to the surface of the water.

I thought the either the fishes liked me, or they were hungry. I decided the latter was more likely and sprinkled some feed, which was happily gobbled up. The same act was repeated several times in a day, for the week I stayed there.

A week or two later, I came to know that most of the fishes were ‘no more’.

Apparently, fishes do not realize that they are overfeeding/being overfed, and will eventually fall sick and die. (Good lesson for me, at my relative’s expense!)

As a practising medical professional, one of my favourite quotes is ‘Every day you live healthy after 60, is a bonus.' And it is usually well received. ‘Usually’ being the key word here.

Sometime ago, I had the misfortune of having to break the news of an advanced cancer diagnosis to a patient and his anxious family members. I ended it with ‘I’m sorry, but at your age, nothing much can be done. Every day after 60 is a bonus, and you are lucky to have 30+ years after that.'

The patient, a 92 year old frail man, who required some form of assistance for walking, feeding, and carrying out other daily activities replied ‘No. I want to live. What (treatment) can be done?'

One of the biggest advantages of the pandemic was that it brought people together as communities. In my case, my fellow professionals formed Whatsapp communities, in which several senior and junior colleagues actively participated. And these communities stuck together after the pandemic.

One fine day, a colleague came and complained that Life is unfair for medical professionals. He is stuck working in his hospital and operating cases on a daily basis, while his schoolmate who pursued a career in management has happily retired, and is now consulting as a freelancer in his own time schedule, making big bucks and hopping countries.

All that sounds fair, except for the fact that the very person complaining is one of the well respected person his field, the top 1% who has the ability to decide how and when he works, and makes 10x more than what he could spend on a daily basis.

June this year, was unique for me.

Unique in the sense that almost all the women in my life, were either buying jewelry, or they were plotting planning to buy.

While it is foolish for a man to step in between a woman and jewels, I did try.

Armed with facts gathered from numerous websites, wikis and Netflix documentaries, I made my case against jewelry and presented the facts to my better half, her cousins and an friend.

In the end, I realized the meaning of the phrase ‘to fall on deaf ears’. Lets keep things civil and just say that the results were not worth my effort.

For the love of God, and to stop beating a dead horse, I will not type the fisherman vs businessman story here.

I have come to the conclusion that most humans are like fishes.

For they do not know that have (had) enough, and are stuck in the never ending cycle of running for the sake of acquiring more and more. Even worse, some are running without knowing why they are running. Sadly, the modern world needs, and encourages more and more of such people, as the economic engine of the world is fuelled by consumption.

While I have been there and done that, I largely strive not to be that person anymore, after being introduced to Minimalism.

Sometimes I wonder, am I using Minimalism as an excuse to be lazy? Then I reassure myself that:

‘In a World filled with excess, stopping to say enough is not an excuse, but a super power.’

Not being motivated by money or materialistic possessions, does not make one lazy, but frees and empowers one to pursue things that really matter.

Cover Photo by Luke Ellis-Craven on Unsplash