Motivation? Seriously?

There are just a flurry of articles that came in to my mind when I just wrote the title. I guess I’ll pick the quote that I read long ago. “Motivation is like your daily shower. We recommend it daily.”

Okay, probably I don’t agree much with the shower part of it. Although I guess I shower everyday. But yeah, the motivation part of it is something that has to seriously be replenished now and then. Even the simple thing about blogging. It took me this long from January for the second blog of the year. Rather than blaming it on lack of drive, I’d choose, more elegantly, that I really didn’t have anything to write about. Which is kinda false in itself. Especially since there have been blogs where I’ve just written aimlessly only to look at it months later and drive myself to do better.

But even that simple thing of not having a topic to write about is a little too far fetched. I mean, life itself is going about with a lot of varied situations, scenarios and phases that its a little too upsetting to say there isn’t anything to write about. Its basically getting better with each passing blog, right? But again, not necessarily. We all have those moments of just not wanting to do anything for some time. That “some” time is relative. Its like gigging. Your stage presence gets better with the next gig. Its like working out. Deadlifts today will help bench press tomorrow. Its like.. you get it, right?

So, as a quick update to the publicly declarable life changing moments, Saregamapa on Zee Kannada got over in February. It was a reality show where I was a part of a choir. And importantly, got on stage with many wonderful musicians, sang alongside the Sunshine Orchestra. A collaboration that I wanted to (and still want to) materialise with BlendzZ. The down side of the reality show was a lot of man hours that would go in waiting for rehearsals. And 3 days of rehearsals before the shoot. Being in a choir is hard. You’ve just got to keep waiting for your turn. Its worse when they are shooting for 15 songs, you’ve just one song with the choir and that’s scheduled towards midnight. On the other hand, its difficult to keep track of all the choir parts when there are 10 songs (lyrics included). Plus the OCD of not having a lyric reference - a trait I proudly passed on to the rest of them too. 

This TV show (and my long hair) got me a few opportunities for gigs, each of which was a learning curve. Then there was April when my Guru was travelling to the US and asked me if I could handle his academies in his absence. It was quite a daunting task and pretty big shoes to fill in. But no one complained and I’m still doing classes once a week at his academy now that he’s back. Guess I did okay.

But why motivation in the middle of all this? Its been eating me that motivation is a big thing of the lives we have today. Post Covid, we have all become weak, distant, dissociated, and been in a state of decrepitude. Not to mention the general lethargy of not wanting to sit for long hours even for something we like doing. So with attention span going for a toss, our social lives are all screwed beyond hope. Its not something thats irreversible, but the whole process of reversing it is indeed a pain. For some, its the unexplainable irritation of working from home. For some its the stuck money flow. For some, its the lack of work more so because it involves performing arts. It all boiled down to the state of mind, the temporary phase of what the mind dictates. Just recently it seems like schools and workspaces opened up. There is an extreme aggression with traffic on road. What was a peaceful ride for 2 km from the gym at 9 in the morning is turning out to be an adventure. What’s to complain!

This conditions that we were in maybe took our states of mind to such levels that we depended on social media to get out of it. And people started motivations talks, making careers out of it with instantly gratifying social media. What was once an activity to kill time slowly morphed into a business model. No one is complaining. Everyone benefits from what they choose. But what about the independent self sustainable model of a person? When will they realise that what you want can’t be found outside of yourself? True, maybe these speakers and influencers probably propel you into thinking that, I’m not sure. I’m not dissing them. But we treat getting motivated and influenced as a big elephant that’s found in some jungle lands. Its not. You can get inspired from a construction labourer who’s making ends meet for his family, you can get inspired from your daily house help who comes at the same time everyday without fail, you can get inspired from your mother, from an upcoming content creator, from your gym coach. From basically anything that’s around you. The problem is not the source of getting motivated. The problem is we lack vision. The short-sightedness. If everything is measured with how instantly we get results, the approach is questionable. Its a sad story that social media is pushing us to be less of humans. You upload a video and immediately the thing we want is likes and views. Its the thing now. While for some things one has to ride the wave, while riding the wave you should not forget that as humans you can’t live in water or underwater forever. Naturally. We have been made to make this place better. Not to indulge in mindless hate, competition and classify people based on whatever reasons we believe in. 

So look around. There’s a lot that you’ve not seen. Train your mind to see things around you. Like really see. Motivate yourself. The least we can try is to create an impression that inspires people to carry on in their own chosen areas of interest once we are gone after serving our purpose. 

Stay kind. Stay safe!