“The Power of Work: Lessons from Life, Love, and Loss"

 Let’s go back to the oldest memory that our conscious mind can recall. Imagine yourself walking on a big, round playground with a circular track. Put all the people you have known till date in that field—people from the same phase in the same circular track. You can have “n” number of circular tracks depending on the different phases of your life. Just cross-check if you forgot to add someone into that field—maybe someone from family, friends, or acquaintances.

Now you have a ground full of people you have known and can recall at this moment. Imagine yourself walking on the circular track. The people around you are busy doing their work; they are from different phases of your life—some from childhood, some from school, some from college or work, and some may just be acquaintance. These people from different phases hardly know each other. While walking on the track, you are walking through different phases of your life. Some faces lighten up your mood, while others you just don’t want to look at again.

Endless emotions flow when we imagine this, isn’t it? Those friends without whom your evenings used to be incomplete, someone whom you always prayed to see on the road, and if you accidentally saw them, you would rush to the mirror when you got home to check if you looked good. Maybe your school teacher who boosted you a lot, or the one who gave you trauma. The smile after seeing a beloved person or the sudden change in mood after seeing someone—it all comes back.

Now come to the present. When you are sitting and reading this, look at the things around you. Take a pause. Take a long breath.

Think of all those nights you didn’t get sleep, all those scary nights that were hard to deal with. I don’t need to go in depth, but I feel you. Some nights where only you know the reason for your anxiety or pain, or moments when you were going through so many emotions that you didn’t even know what you were doing, emotionally or mentally hijacked.

Think of the last time you enjoyed yourself completely, the moment you were so happy.

This is all the act of the mind and hormones—the secretion of hormones depends on the mind.

In this article, I will talk about three different stories and my observations, with the aim that they might help someone somewhere. Its about linking your endless emotions what you felt just now by reading the paragraph above, your overthinking, your present and how things find there own way by the means of getting "Work"

The most beautiful love story I have seen in my life in real-time is that of my maternal grandfather and grandmother. I remember when my grandfather was in his last year before his demise. He was bedridden with a big wound on his back, barely able to move. During this year, he remained in one position, just sleeping, while my grandmother cleaned everything, brushed his teeth, cared for him, and still managed a lot of other family responsibilities without a single “uff” or complaint. If guests came, she would welcome them as well. I worship that lady who managed different relationships in different spheres while caring for the love of her life. My grandfather died in 2011, and my grandmother in 2019. I’ll return to this story later.

Now let’s look at a different story from my life—it is easier to convey through my example. The same grandmother, whom I loved almost as much as my mother, came to my home during summer vacation in 2019 (May–July). I still remember when I opened the door, she tried to hide herself and play peek-a-boo with me. I was unaware that she was going through cancer. During those two months, she experienced different phases of the illness. When I left for college on July 25th, 2019, she said: “Stay Kind". It was last message  from her as On July 29th, I received the message that she was no more. I couldn’t attend  last rites as I was in Bangalore. It was the last day for college admission and hostel allocation, and missing it would have created a complex situation later. I’ll return to this story as well.

The third story is from a phase where I was emotionally very broken. I don’t want to go deep into it, but I used to stay alone on the 4th floor of the hostel while my friends stayed up to the 3rd floor. I used to slap myself to study, have very bad thoughts, and struggle to handle myself emotionally. At the same time, it was the 7th semester exams. I was already placed in three companies, so failing a single exam would have cost me my job. It was a dark period; I was mentally overwhelmed.

Now here is my observation.

Let’s start from the last story. I passed all my exams, with better marks than expected compared to other exams that semester. I believe my exact marks were above 75 in each, although my internal scores weren’t great. To this day, it motivates me that I passed that semester.

Regarding my grandmother’s passing, I remember coming to college crying all the way. There was a big crowd for admission and some complications—something to do with the principal, running to departments, and hostel allocation. Everyone wanted a nice room, and people were fighting for it. I was in grief, yet I had to manage everything. The good part is I managed to get admission and a room the same day and went back to Bangalore. The next day, I went to my grandmother’s house. I stayed there for two weeks. Managing college attendance was another stress because under 85% attendance meant you couldn’t sit for exams. Despite everything, I managed that semester.

Now, about my grandmother’s love story: after my grandfather passed away, I remember her saying, “What will I do? What do I have to do now? I am all lost. I have nothing.”

Here is what my understanding is !

I remember a word from Sadhguru: “If your heart functions, you don’t have a problem. If your kidneys do, no problem. So do your lungs. Then why the heck do you have a problem? When your mind is working, it will think. That is its only job—it will think.”

So when you are overthinking or stuck in a loop, on the verge of mental overload, remember this: your mind is doing its job.

In summary, your brain will think—that is normal. The day it stops thinking will be a problem. But if your brain thinks, you need to have a purpose. The only thing that can help you get out of problems in life is work, work, work.

When I say work, I don’t just mean earning. Work is keeping your brain involved. Loving someone is work. Caring for someone is work. Doing professional work is work. Watching your phone, gossiping, talking—anything you do is work. Even overthinking is work that your brain is doing.

Looking at the three stories: my grandmother survived eight years after my grandfather’s death because she had something to do—taking care of her family. I passed my semester exams because I had work. I overcame my grandmother’s death because I got involved in tasks.

Our brain needs work, and sometimes we need not put effort into finding new work . God has designed life so that new work appears naturally.

One of my dearest friends said, “Overthink a scenario—either two things will happen: you will find a solution, or you won’t. If you find a solution, act on it. If not, divert your mind—give your mind a different work.”

Through this long article, all I want to convey is that your brain’s thoughts can create hell if not managed properly, keep you normal if you have work, or make you happy if you do the work that brings joy.

Choosing work is important to stay happy. Life will offer you multiple works:

For Me overthinking was choice of work, and writing this article is choice of work as well. Writing this gives me happiness, while overthinking haunts me. Remember what my friend said: if there is no solution, divert your mind.( Here when I say, divert your mind, it means you already have overthink about it and once you decided you have no solution to it, if you are opening the same door again and again with same answer as "no solution", in that case, divert it, overthink it once till your mind says stop that's it , the answer is No, in that case just divert it).

Accept life as it is. Everything you see is meant to be. Internal stays; external fades. Choose work that keeps you happy, and the rest of your life will take care of itself (not as lecture to you, I say this to myself as well)

Have the courage to leave some things to the future. You cannot plan everything today. I remember a friend talking about his future on Friday—he was healthy. He passed away on Monday. You barely can plan anything.

At the end, choose your work wisely to stay happy.