Learning to Dance Again
Momentum & Memories
Hey there! Hello from Chandigarh!
It’s been long that I wrote to you. Numerous drafts lie unsent in my substack, my phone’s notes app, my personal discord server, my paper notebook. But here I am: making use of this moment of flow to finally start again by sharing this half-assembled collage of thoughts.
Cracking Inertia By Letting Go
In the past year or so, I found myself self-isolating from trying out risky experiences and experiments. My life started filtering out stuff that was not thought through. So, it was of my own doing that my days became devoid of spontaneous richness of life experiences. In the last couple of months, I have been resisting this tendency and have been partially successful. All I am focusing right now is on becoming more expressive and less selective. Filters be damned. Objections overruled. Time to just do stuff. Let it flow. Let the momentum build. A few momentum-building things that I have tried out in the recent weeks:
physical health — hikes in the mountains, home workouts, long citywalks
emotional connections — unlabeled relationships, exchanging smiles with strangers, conversations without filters
social contexts — nightclubs, fitness classes and group trips
environmental: immersion in metropolis vs mountaintown scapes
Two Mishmashing Itches
Also, after moving into a new apartment in Chandigarh(a mid-sized planned city in northwest India with scorching-long summers) and furnishing it from scratch for a month, I came to untangle two separate but confusing things I want:
Itch to free-explore —new streets, new friends, new cafes, new projects, new landscapes, new cultures, spontaneity, optionality
Itch to establish a homebase —sense of belonging, dependability, familiar faces, shared history, ownership
The Aesthete and the Analyst
The two mental-frames of decision-making: sometimes confusing, sometimes competing.
Aesthetic: What looks good, What feels good? Is it fun? Is it cherishable?
spontaneous decisions to go on trips to unfamiliar places and dive headfirst into unknown domains
eg: say yes to an art retreat in the mountains with a small group of strangers
Analytical: Does it solve a problem? Does it add up? Is it sustainable? Is it optimal?
furnished my own apartment in the city for the first time: from kitchen essentials to curtains, bookshelf to couch and dining table.
eg: whether I should build a home in the mountains as my primary homebase.
Memories Tangible Intangible
In this year, an unplanned pivot has been on living cherishable moments that turn into memories: tangible or intangible. A few examples:
Bought a new polaroid camera and collecting postcards + stickers
Playing board games on table and on-screen
Adding paper books in my bookshelf.
Bought a new RC car and it’s fun to play with it!
Got active on Instagram + connected with old and new friends
Here are two collages of some of the cherishable moments I lived in the recent weeks.
As is tradition of this note, here’s a music recommendation:
Just Going by Rohan Thakur
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Will try to maintain momentum and share more with you and more often.
Until Next Time,
Vinay