The Nights

"One day you'll leave this world behind
So live a life you will remember."

You don't have to be rich

You need not be famous

You just have to live

Do things that makes you feel good.

Do things you know makes you proud someday remembering them.

Wanna jump? Jump.

Wanna scream? Do it.

You have nothing to fear but your own self.

You don't have to hold back because somebody's watching.

One life, so live!

You will be remembered for all the fears you conquered.

You will be remembered for the paths you took.

You might be gone someday but you will still live somehow.

Renuka G

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Run from the clichés

If only running actually solves problems, many of us wouldn't  take off our shoes . However since it apparently doesn't , at least in most instances, we invent excuses. I was presumably convinced that it all rooted from childhood itself . It began the moment we blamed our mediocre achievements on the tuition classes we were denied, our ignorance of the school rules on the teachers' inconsistency, and hiding under the shades of that-person-does-it-too excuses, we thrived. 

The second phase of life hits later. It is obviously not mandotory for if it has been then many wouldn't have been stuck at the previous. This phase is called growing up. What a cliché! Not all grows up, exceptions seem like a rule in this case. So to feel any form of attachment to this post, you should be in the correct stage. If you aren't, the rest would be a relief. 

When you grow up, you allegedly run out of excuses. It isn't a requirement or a norm forced onto an individual. It is merely a choice you are obliged to make as , well, a grown up. This time around you can't hide behind the mistakes of your parents who carved your dreams for you, nor blame the society and religion for the person you are becoming. You are entirely your own responsibility.  The stage where you learn the real meaning of consequences and regrets and most importantly, risks. You run out of excuses.

The next minor event in this stage would be the owning up to your state. It doesn't matter whether you fail, fall, succeed or stand naked to the world, you take the blame. Fixing is the art you master and control all by yourself. You could surrender and get back playing the blame game but that's child's play when you are here. They are still in the cards laid out yet nobody takes pride in cowardice . Or do you? 

I don't know about the people out there and their excuses. Excuses scream comfort to me and comfort is synonymous with stale. It gets boring, eventually.

 Give me a little fight for my survival! Throw me an obstacle. I rather start fresh again and again than grow stale with the rest of benched players .  I made a choice, to be and stay a grown up.

Renuka G

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Identity-conflicts

Don't hate or love someone so much! You will end up exactly mirroring them. Your jealousy and desire to be them will reflect unconsciously and reveal itself without much realisation .

People often end up the spitting image of either their best friend or their most loathed enemy . However, there are also cases in which a person acts like a sponge which absorbs everything they see and the next thing you know they are at the bookstore getting the books someone was reading , taking up new routines like admiring the moon or even develop new interests like fitness etc like in the page they saw . I wouldn't necessarily say it's a bad thing. But let's pause for a moment this whole permeable membrane's activities.

Who are you? Would you rather be defined by the things you picked up from the others or the ones you actually found within yourself? I'm a writer, and I became a veracious reader because I had to read in order to write. I did it for my passion. I became a fitness enthusiast because I have goals. Nobody came into my life and moved me into trying all these. Is it that hard to discover your passion?

Passion starts with goals. What are your goals? It is very amusing to watch people who didn't retire bad mouthing others and being a part of the so-acclaimed social network warriors who fight problems online actually end up something they are not. Be warned , hatred is a sign of jealousy and an emotion showing you want something the other person has. Plus, reading someone's blog everyday could make you drawn into the other person's interests instead of yours.

Think for your own well-being people! Do you want to be yourself or a person whole stole numerous identities to sculpture your image ? You might have mocked someone who went too generous on lipstick or someone's poses, but what have you become now? Don't end up a statistic.

There is something about originality that is inspiring. I think people with unique interest and passion are the ones who awe the world. If you keep trying to prove something by mocking others or mirroring them, where are you heading?  And one day you can't even define yourself in an About Me column that you have to copy-paste it from other sources. 

Once again be warned, hatred and love could wipe off your identity altogether!  The world is full of copy cats . You either jump off and save yourself now or sit along and play the guessing game . 

Renuka G

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Fat-fat-fit

So today's mission was to calculate body fat percentage!

When it comes to being fit, the best way of measure would be this. BMI and your weighing scale cannot speak the amount of truth your body fat percentage could tell. You may be skinny-fat, or a case like Arnold Schwarzenegger who had a whopping BMI of 30.2 ,classified obese yet
 had a very minimum body fat.

There are a few ways to calculate body fat percentage. One of it would the calculator available in numerous sites which requires your waist, wrist, hip and forearm circumference apart from your weight. The results are explained briefly in the table .

My result is at fit-level, 23%! I guess that a good news! My waist circumference used to be 27 inches and now it has reduced by 7 inches. I realized it's not all about the number on the scale. I feel stronger, more energetic and I fit better into my clothes.

My next mission is to strive for 20-21%. All I have to do is stay committed to the gym, eat healthy and get enough rest.

Definitely a happy kid today!

Renuka G

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The Shortcut-Shame

Most people are only known for their unknown shortcuts they take. When it comes to the notion of being skinny and fit, many would like to delusionaly assume that they are the latter. 

Alright, let me get this straight! You don't get fit in a week, but you can get skinny and make the dumb crowd believe you are full of muscles in just 2 days.

Trust me, it only takes 2 days and 2 things. First of all, you need a little cardio and know a few workouts. Next is the ultimate go-to solution for girls worldwide , starve! These two things are easy. Especially when you are desperate to look slim for a date or an event, they could come handy. After the show is over, a week later, the reality sips in with an impressive pooch. Oh yea, very fit indeed.

As much as it is easy to look slim and skinny, nothing is more lasting and fulfilling as being toned and fit. People work for weeks and months just to see the change while some people flash their skinny figure as an inspiration for fools. When you are thin, your body could still be full of fats whereas a toned-physique won't give you that pillow-ish hug. Muscles are hard, fats are equivalent to flabby. I guess that's not rocket science.

One important thing to remember, fit people actually eat . It's just that they don't overindulge in processed and unhealthy food while consistent practising portion control in their meals. So the next time you feel flat because you sip green tea and ate crackers for days, don't get overjoyed over the accomplishment. You are nowhere close to being healthy. Save yourself the memory space of your phone. 

To be fit and toned, one need to lift, eat healthy and get enough rest to recover for the next gym visit. The effort and sweat and pain , I call that inspiring and share-worthy. If you pamper yourself with light cardio and do squats with your knees crossing your toes, go home! 

I support strong women. Shortcuts are embrassing.

Renuka G

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They own you

What's with our generation ?

What's with material possessions and wants ?

Things we own , end up owning us. True enough. It's a simple case of getting a pet to pat and ending up serving it like a slave. We buy expensive things , we chase after luxury names, we prey on the prettiest and the most good looking in the bunch , all to finally become submissive to them.

While it could sound a little impractical to live without everything mentioned, is it possible to not be owned and defined by everything we possess? 

Can you reside in an extravagant mansion and disregard the security ? Can you walk around flashing your platinum cards and rings without being called out for some illegal misdoings just because you fail to convince the society of your true capabilities ?

 Is it possible to not be owned? Whether mentally or physically, can one stop whatever at hand from getting into your head? 

And amidst this tricky situation, would you dare limit your possessions to set yourself free from being claimed? Does the price of freedom higher in value compared to the profit of possessions? Dare you sacrifice the latter to survive the world? Or are you ready to be succumbed and be made into slaves of your most coveted wants?

And finally, how do you own without being owned ?

Renuka G

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Death and Cynicism

Is it tragic or funny?

To live our entire lives pursuing happiness and finally to finish with death. Like climbing over the rainbow only to land on a pointy sword, how tragic? Or it's just our poor sense of humour denying the huge yet simple joke?

I watched a movie the other day which caught me thinking about the euphemisms. Things are actually pretty rough and sad and pathetic but we try so hard to smile with guns in our head. Some do succeed. How impressive is it? And with that, again I wonder, have these happy crowds in the universe come to terms with death? Are you happy because you genuinely are or is it a pursuit to conceal the tragic end?  Even worse, could it be just a handshake over an agreement to sacrifice and gain mutually in the space between everything and death? If running is all about crossing the finish line, does how you run matter at all?

The one inseparable subject with death would be his kin, FEAR. So which fear is worse? The fear of not living or the fear of death? And to what extent who you go to conquer them? You can't cheat death but can you make it any better? To all the optimists of the world, why are you so happy? Or maybe, just maybe they actually got the joke.

That silly joke of how a man goes so high to fall deep down. It's the simple law of gravity understood by all .God bless Newton and all science references ! The question here is, which law then is applicable for our life-scene?

 It's a mere joke. The most cynical joke of all. You can sit with a box of tissue and sulk all you want. Screw that! Perhaps it would be better if you imagine a  silly man on a trampoline going gaga, landing on the ground planting his whole shape onto the grass and tell yourself the genre of life is comedy.

As simple as that, everything is actually funny.

You don't have to laugh from your heart, sometimes it's satisfying to laugh with your head. Your mind is a powerful tool hence, learn to narrate, learn some humour. Death is tragic, perhaps the most tragic of all nouns. Remember, Shakespeare wrote tragedies with such cynical plot and the most twisted characters because he knew the secret. The cure to a tragic end is nothing. The journey to a tragic end though, begs humour for, without that all lame things becomes extra pretentious. Forcing yourself to enjoy simple pleasure, trying so hard to be happy, clenching your teeth on every fall? Oh, come on! Life is a joke. Don't make a fool out of yourself. Direct your play, enjoy the scenes. You don't have to be a clown, you just have to know to manipulate your characters.

Fear not the end, fear a stale plot.

Renuka G

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