First Step

You are here because you thought this is where you should start after reading the title. Do yourself a favour - start with Cornfield Chase. This will make more sense after you’ve read the others in order.

Now, in order to escape this prison we are living in, we need to shift the focus to desires. And it’s not easy, to be honest. Because we have been conditioned to believe that desiring something for yourself is selfish. Some times we go as far as labelling them immoral. All this labelling only rejects parts of us that are looking for self-expression. They get repressed. And what happens to the human? Depressed, yet functioning.

But what kind of desires are we even talking about here?
Not ‘I want to have an ice-cream today’ kind of cravings. They are desires too. Not just our needs and wants. It goes deeper than that. I’m talking about desires that pull you like gravity. The true-to-you desires that sound almost crazy to the rest of the world, but not to you.

And no. Desires aren’t pure or impure, good or bad, moral or immoral. They are just what they are - desires. The belief that there’s something wrong in desiring is a borrowed belief from others and just the thought of desiring makes us feel shame because we have been conditioned to do so.

Desires are natural to human beings. That’s how we are able to create humans or anything for that matter. And we desire things from the moment we are born. But the world around a new-born kid shows it otherwise.

Note: This 1 paragraph is written in Hindi. Translated para is after that.
To hota ye hai ki har taraf se aawaazein aati hain. Pehle padh lo, shaunk baad me poore kar lena. Pehle job pe dhyan do. Pehle shadi karo lo, bachhe kar lo, and so on and on. Or fir ye aawaaz hamari khud ki kab ban jaati hai, pata hi nahin chalta. Bachhon ki school ya college fees, ghar ki ya car ki EMI, parents getting older, medical bills, insurances. Bas isi aawaaz me dab jaate hain jo hamari kabhi thi hi nahin. Kuch log international travel karte hain - taaki bhula saken ki wo bandi hain.
(Translation of above paragraph in English: What happens is this: voices come at you from every direction. Study first, follow your passions later. Focus on getting a job. Get married, have kids… and it just keeps going. And somewhere along the way, without even noticing, those voices become our own. School or college fees for the kids, home or car EMIs, parents getting older, medical bills, insurances; and suddenly we’re buried under a life that was never really ours. Some people even travel internationally just to forget that they feel trapped.)

First Step: Acknowledge that you have desires. Allow your voice to exist as well. After all, it’s a part of you. There’s no shame in it. It’s just what it is. No need to reject it even if you don’t act on your desires yet. You’ve got this, my friend.

Note: The title of this blog post is inspired by the soundtrack ‘First Step’ of the movie ‘Interstellar’. The first step is almost always scary and difficult, but it leads to greater things.