Musings of an Experiential Runner

This is not terribly original, but: Success is the end result of overcoming Failures.    Rarely, if ever, one achieves his/ her goal in the first instance. Even if, seemingly, someone accomplishes a target at first attempt, there is a lot of hard work and preparation that has gone into it that the others don't get to see.  Achieving success is a process and inevitably one encounters disappointments and faces failures along the way. Each failure teaches you something and each disappointment that you overcome, makes you stronger. The whole game is about learning from failures and pushing away disappointments. Do that....and success is guaranteed.  Have the mental strength....failure is the biggest motivator. And quite the contrary, fear of failure is the biggest hindrance to success. Nothing comes easy in life....there are no shortcuts in life. Be fearless. As long as YOU know that you've given it your 100%, and maybe some more, then there is no shame in failure.  I, for one, hav

One common myth, which I have almost convinced myself in my case too, is that you can acclimatize your mind and body to do with less sleep without any negative effects. As a doctor you pride yourself about this. However, as the years roll by and you listen to your body more and analyze yourself with detachment, one reaches the conclusion that you DO need MORE/ ENOUGH sleep. That gets us to the question of how much is enough sleep. The answer is pretty straightforward, no ifs and buts: 7-9 hours a day for ages 18-64 and 7-8 hours for age 65 years and above. And why: Because it is linked to your emotional, mental and physical health, quality of life and safety. Inadequate sleep leads to irritability, poor concentration, anger and depression. Sleep is important to process new information and remember it. Sleep deficiency is linked to higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and strokes. Not to forget lower immunity, making you more prone to infections, especially virals. Sleep

My apologies to the civic minded and upright, law abiding citizens 🙏 This post is neither a call to arms nor an instigation to break government-mandated lockdowns in this COVID19 pandemic. Rather it is kind of a survival guide for the running junkies (and indeed the hardcore morning walkers community too) who can't do without their daily fix  🤗 .  How best to get your fix without upsetting too many people or getting hauled up by the patrolling police. Here goes: 1.            Start real early in the morning 🌃 Preferably around 5 am, before dawn. Not many neighbors are up and about (and neither your family members!), so less people to castigate you 😝 . Running or walking incognito (hopefully!) in the receding darkness of the night lessens your guilt also 😜 . After the night's patrolling, the police waalas also tend to be at the nadir of their alertness and enthusiasm. What to say of the stray canines, they too deign that time of the day too uncivilized to make the effort of