This week’s editorial is contributed by Sonali from the Community Team
Something that I’ve always been inclined towards exploring is Self-Reflection and everything that it entails, the good and the bad.
Starting on the journey of self-reflection isn’t easy at all, I’ve stumbled across so many different points in my life that when routine takes over it’s hard to not feel disoriented.
It’s not often that we get nudges in our daily lives to actually test our capacity to introspect or even pause to ponder upon our willingness to learn about our fundamental selves.
However we do, these moments are often triggered by a big change or shock event. It is only then that we’re really forced to look at ourselves trying to make sense of who we are and how we arrived at this point.
Our lives on social media eventually begin to act as mirrors. We envision and try to orchestrate a different life online and sometimes these delusions work for us. It’s only when we step out of this cycle of denial and introspect we’re able to get some sense of what really matters to us.
I’m not saying it will be easy, looking inwards and facing yourself is always difficult, but it will make you more courageous.
If you’re looking for a non-conventional way to introspect: Get Bored
If you give yourself space to get bored without any distractions (especially from the dopamine machine in your palm) you allow yourself to freely think and hold onto that train of thought. See where it leads you the first time you try it out? Where does it go to by default?
If you’re doing it the first time, it might feel a little uncomfortable but over time it’ll help you flex your reflection ‘muscle’ and get more comfortable with the practice.
We’ve all been through the Ikiguide sessions. We know when we self-reflect, we are often asked to share our learnings with others. This is also true for life, most self-reflection will also ask you to reach out for help. After you’ve started on your path of self-reflection, trust me, it will take a village to get there. This is also why you are at Stoa. At some point in your life in the past, you introspected and found a need for change.
Stick to that.
Before we move on, this is my unsolicited advice to you. Be open to asking questions, from yourself and others. But most importantly, be open to vulnerability.
Vulnerability will help you find the strength that is deeply rooted in you.
📆 Upcoming Events 📆
This Thursday, 23rd June, at 8 PM, we’re back with another Community Mixer!
If you’re looking for a space to discover other folks in the community and you haven’t had the chance to solo network it out there yet, this one’s for you.
Join us at 8 pm for some well-deserved downtime with your favourite community 🌻
ALSO…It’s our largest cohort is graduating this week! Congratulations C5!
🥳 🎂Birthday Parttaaayy! 🥳 🎂
21st June - Nihal Rustgi
22nd June - Roshni Chandrasekar & Arpan Khosla
23rd June - Manvendra Singh Rathore & Prerna Bansal Chatterjee
24th June - Niket Kamat Satoskar & Sarbojit Dutta
25th June - Anubhav Dhingra & Aruna Mayilvaganan
26th June - Rishabh Chaddha & Rishabh Patni
🐝 Community Buzz 🐝
Since there were no photos taken at the meetups last week, maybe because of the monsoons, here’s some music we’re vibing to during the rains 🌧
Radiohead vibes by Apoorva Kanotra
A rainy day in Bombay via Vikrant Mehra
Bonus: Here’s a curated list of mystery movies that go well with the sound of rain and thunder.
🥲 Meme Wars 🥲
This week’s shiny new winner of Best Meme goes to …………
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Ankit Kokkeri, dw mate, we’ve all been here at some point
To conclude, I leave you this to ponder over: