This pandemic has been a catalyst for change in my life. I started this as a completely different individual and now, looking back at what I was - I realize I have evolved a lot.

Consider this as a journal entry, or consider this as my story through this pandemic. Last few months, I did not write anything. This was because I realized a few things. I went through some to-be-traumatic experiences through which I sailed perfectly and without harm. If you feel like knowing what happened to me in the last 6 months and how having a good set of habits, letting go of some toxic habits, and making the right choices at the right time made the later part of 2021 which supposedly was full of letdowns for me, very fun and inspiring - please keep reading. This is not the usual format in which I write, so if you are here for numbers and groundbreaking stats, you can skip this and I will be back with some content for you soon.

Goals and Personal Fitness

In February 2021, I randomly decided that I would join a gym. The reason was simple, I realized that I was too lean. I started working out/running in my 4th year and figured that it had very good results w.r.t my general stamina and health. But due to the first wave of the pandemic, I could not continue that following which a hectic job life started which I was pairing with working on my startup. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences for me. But I was constantly realizing I was not quite doing what I should be doing in the fitness aspect of life.

Of course, the mental stress of working two jobs, without any social life and human contact was taking a toll on me. One day I decided that this was it and I could not take it anymore than this. I called up a few of my friends and joined a gym that was very far from my home (~7-8 km). And if I was in Gwalior, I made it an absolute priority to go to the gym. This got hindered by wave 2 of the pandemic.

A backstory for how I created my targets, just before leaving the campus in March 2020 I was working out in the IIT Mandi campus gym with my friend Garvit. I was very new to the world of fitness and asked him how to do a pull-up (Pull-ups always fascinated me). He demonstrated me and I followed, but due to lack of strength and bad posture, I ended up hurting my neck such that my neck was jammed on one side. The next day was Astrax Day 1 and I told all the kids that I will be on the ground by tomorrow - which I was (A belief and a human brain is a magical thing). Somewhere back in my mind, I realized that I was weak.

On day 1 of my gym, I asked my pro friend about how many pull-ups he could do? He replied that 10-12 is a good number as pull-ups are complex movements. A pull-up happens when a plethora of muscles - all strong work together, a composite movement. I asked him what should I aim for as my weight? I weighed about 58 kgs then (Many kgs were stripped off by a rigorous schedule) - to which he replied, aim for 65 now.

I had a couple of goals to achieve now.

Shocks

I was being subjected to a lot of mental stress at my job in February 2021. This is when I decided to leave my job and search for something. I joined an amazing company Shuttl. I met some of the most awesome people there.

Meanwhile, in May 2021, my startup Furrble (https://furrble.com) shut. It was a total mishap, personal relations were hampered, hard work of all these months went to vain.

I was particularly not happy because this was one instance where I believe I failed even before I tried. I failed at multiple aspects, details of which I think are unnecessary in this context.

But Shuttl was going well. I finally had a manager I very much appreciated, who asked me to pursue something good in life, I had teammates who became good friends with me. And suddenly one day, someone put a DM on slack saying the CTO wants to meet.

Shuttl shut. They had to lay off us. Everything that seemed to be going on track for some time fell apart. It was terrible news. My mother thought I would be getting my life’s first promotion in Shuttl, because of how happy I was in general.

I am particularly very happy with the way I dealt with all this.

Aftermath

This has never happened to me earlier, but I aced every single interview that I appeared for after this, every single company who was willing to pay me equal to or more than what Shuttl paid me gave me an offer. Others never replied after the salary discussion but they always told me that I aced those interviews. You must be thinking I was studying a lot, was super prepared. But NO! I was traveling in Dharamsala with a few of my friends. I did not solve a single leetcode problem. I did not study for a single minute. This was new to me. I did not know that something like this is even remotely possible.

Decoding the Aftermath

None of this happened because I am smart if anything I am an average student with an average JEE rank and an average CGPA, without a PPO and good placement. Heck, I suck at competitive programming. So so, that if you give me an easy leetcode problem right now, I will probably not be able to solve it.

I think a large part of this is how mentally confident I was. A big credit goes to my friend Ritwik too, who did the same. I remember when we heard this news, we were laughing a lot. My manager called me for a call because he thought we would be depressed and sad. We went on that call with smiling faces and joy. He must have thought these kids have gone mad. He complimented us for taking the bad news so well and moved on.

Good mental health can be correlated to a good lifestyle that I adopted a few months back. I was far more confident and sure. Although I had lost a lot of weight after this two news, I was still doing okay.

Up until now

I am in general a happy person. I am now a pet parent, spend most of my day in positivity. I tend to block away from all possible hindrances to my mental peace in this process.

I have started paying a lot of attention to what I eat. I have stopped eating grains. I consume a huge amount of protein in a day sourced naturally. I used to drink a lot of carbonated soft drinks, this has turned into very very occasional stuff, last few times I went out, I had hot chocolate. I can do 30 pull-ups now easily (YES 30) - I am planning to push myself beyond this pretty soon. I am a 66 kg individual now. Outfits fit very well, I notice that they in general look better on me than 1 year back. I am happier and content with what I have.

I stopped writing for a few months, but that does not mean I did not do anything. I started creating digital art. Though I am still learning, I already see myself holding a stylus and creating something nice to look at.

I am proud of myself for starting a very healthy lifestyle this year. This has impacted me in every way possible. Although I am not the best version of myself yet, but I feel like I am getting there. I have traveled a lot. My perspective on the world has changed. I made new friends, on Twitter and trips. Friends I will cherish for a long time to come. My fitness will increase every year and so should yours!

Thank you for reading this. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you to every well-wisher and critique out there. You are helping me grow and I will make you proud.

A friendly note

If you feel you want to talk to me, for anything - venting out/just a casual conversation/whatever. I will be up for it. It has been a tough year. After helping some people in wave 2, I have realized that the value of life is much more than personal relations. So even if we have never talked, and you wish to talk and not be judged, I will be all in. Please schedule a call with me

I wish you all a very healthy and peaceful new year 2022.

This also is a reminder to myself that I should resume my monthly articles. So I think I will continue. Thanks for the support again.