Chloe Ting's Workout Challenges (I Am A Fan)!

This lockdown time is definitely seeing more people try to exercise more regularly. I think the sudden shut down of so many activities for so many months brings a painful consciousness of our increased inactivity and sedentary lifestyle. And, my Youtube recommendations were suddenly filling up with 'Chloe Ting workout challenges', that I only cursorily glanced. A conversation with a friend, who mentioned her a couple of months back, made me go back and take a look at her workouts. 

First thing I wanted to know: who is this Chloe Ting? Chloe Ting is a Youtuber who started out with putting fashion and travel experiences, and then started putting out workout videos from 2017. Next question: why is everyone doing these challenges suddenly? There are two reasons for this. One, as I already mentioned, is our general consciousness of our own inactivity. Two, her workouts are great (and they work)!

The most popular of her workouts that I repeatedly kept seeing was the two week shred challenge. I decided to try that out, too. The results that people were claiming to have got was phenomenal. I have been working out in some form or the other every single day, and so I thought it might not really work that much of a change in my body (because I've been working out, anyway, duh). How wrong I was! My body felt and looked much better after the two weeks. I am already in my normal, healthy weight range, so I did not see too much of a difference in the scales. But, my body was actually feeling much better- and that is probably because some of the fat was getting replaced by stronger muscles. And, more than anything, I thoroughly enjoyed the workouts. 

So, here are some reasons why you should give it a try:

1. The workouts are challenging, yet not impossible to do even for a beginner. She also has good modifications that she shows in her videos. 

2. She gives you an entire week(s) planned, with everyday consisting of 2-3 video workouts for a total of 20-50 minutes. 

3. The difficulty progresses with every day, so it doesn't become too easy after the first week.

4. They are short and effective.

5. You can lose weight, tone, gain healthy muscle, improve flexibility, and just feel absolutely great after every single workout, every single day!

Of course, what you eat is also important. It is absolutely true that exercising is just half of the solution. There is not much of a point if the eating is not clean. If you are interested, you can even check out the meal plans that she puts up, though I didn't. I didn't do any dieting, or even go out of the way and eat healthy. I just ate normally, and tried to avoid junk on the days I am not really hungry. And even for that, I saw great results. On top of everything, I need to be able to enjoy a workout. And, I thoroughly did that with Chloe Ting's. 

I started another challenge of hers because I grew to really liking her workouts in the two weeks. Do check them out on her website! It's not another advertising gimmick that made it viral or popular. I was just as skeptical when I started her workouts. But, I can guarantee that you'll get into the groove and love it. And, what's better, you will see results that you can feel- irrespective of whether it shows a change in the weighing scales!

Go for it!

Coelho In Alchemist, And Tagore In His Poetry: On Where The Treasure Is

Time and again, through books and poems, and old tales that people narrate to others, there is one constant theme- finding your treasure of happiness. People seek things, and where do they end up finding what they seek for? Many philosophers, authors, poets, thinkers have shared profound tales of their experiences spun in a creative lesson for us all, hidden in their stories and poems. 

Alchemist by Paulo Coelho follows Santiago, a sixteen year old boy, looking for his treasure. The novel takes you through his highs and lows, and his desperate search as he travels far and wide, only leading him to the truth that the treasure he sought had always been with him- back at home, with himself. It captures a journey of self-realization, and drops the truth that what you seek is always with you, in your home. And, that is where true happiness lies. 

When Satyajit Ray, the Oscar winning Bengali filmmaker and one of the greatest we have seen, was a young boy, he approached Rabindranath Tagore with a piece of paper to get the legendary poet's autograph. What Ray got along with the autograph was a small, yet significant poem with a hidden message for life itself. Here is a translated version of that poem:

I have travelled miles, for many a year,

I have spent a lot in lands afar,

I've gone to see the mountains,

and the oceans I've been to view.

But, I haven't seen with these eyes,

just two steps from my home lies,

on a sheaf of paddy grain,

a glistening drop of dew. 

Every inspiration, every treasure, and all the happiness we seek is always with us- as these timeless books and poems tell us. But, it seems like we have to go around to other places before we realize that and find it, justifying the well-quoted phrase: "experience is the only source of knowledge"!

Tuesdays with Morrie

Title: Tuesdays with Morrie

Author: Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom loved his sociology professor in the University during his college days, and attended every lecture of his. But, as time flew after graduation, the University and the professor both slip from his mind for a long period, until he learns that his favourite professor is in his last days. Tuesdays with Morrie is the collection of discussions that Albom has with his professor Morrie every Tuesday, just like he used to during the University days. The book is a collection of conversations that Albom has with Morrie on the last few months approaching the professor's death. The conversations are open, thoughtful discussions on a wide array of themes including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death.

Tuesdays with Morrie feels like you are reading a story, rather than a non-fiction. It shows Albom's journey in figuring out what these things mean to him, with the help of Morrie's narration of his own story. Morrie's story is touching, real, and gives Albom a guidance to figure out what life means to him. Albom describes this book as "one long paper on what was learned". And, I think that's the best one-line summation that anyone can give about this work.

We all have a professor or teacher either in our schooling or during our University days whom we looked up to and had meaningful conversations with. We tended to attend every lecture of theirs, look forward to their classes, be curious about their views, and seek help and guidance from them when we find ourselves stumbling with baffling and deep questions. All of us have experienced something like this in someone, even if it wasn't our teacher- it could have been a friend, our parents, siblings, grandparents, or anybody. So, I think it is very relatable to see where the story is coming from. 

However, you cannot seek answers in the book. The book is just about the process that the author went through while discovering the meaning of life with his professor. The book is a beautiful record of how he meandered through his thoughts, and how he took the story of Morrie. And, according to me, what the book ultimately tells the reader is not the answers in themselves, but to stop, speculate, introspect, and take the interest to find the meaning for yourself. 

I really like the book, and especially its narration. The conversational tone that is maintained makes the whole process of reading the discussions pleasant and evoking. I really liked how there were no conclusions concretely established, and how Albom stood by the simple narration of his views, and let the reader think for themselves. Such narrative makes the reader enjoy the book much better, whatever subject it is on. 

I enjoyed reading it very much. It's a lovely read!

The Fault In Our Stars, Or Is It?

If you pick an average young child, in a bracket of space that the world would consider as average- not shining the brightest in the lot when the results come and yet not breaking the hearts that floated the expectations to be met- the child will probably not be as much an average in skill. And yet, what you see is an average performer. Why?

The simple answer to such a probing would be that the child didn't want such performance, or couldn't perform because of a certain, determined set of factors. From here, the thought process can take two branches. Let's see both of them. 

One: the clear lack of wanting to do it. It is most likely that the child really didn't care about getting that 10/10, or didn't think that much about it. He/She just cleared off the goal that the society expected, and settled happily in the average category. What's wrong with that? In fact, that's the most sensible thing to do. Assume that you aren't really driven about cleaning your table, and your mom repeatedly keeps asking you to clean. Would you clean it spic and span, and maintain it what way? Or, would you just clean to the extent your mom wants it to be cleaned? Why would you do extra work where in the first place you weren't even that keen about working?

It may happen that when you do what your mom says as a compulsion initially, you may start liking the clean set-up. And, when you start liking it, and when the clean space starts making you happy, that is when you'd go beyond the expectations of anyone around you and rise above the societal average, and fall into that niche category of those with self-driven cleanliness. People will start quoting you as an example to other people who are still in the average zone. This might not happen in every area that the society wants you to perform in, and it might happen only where you become interested genuinely. Or, none of this might happen, and that is also okay. 

The point that I am trying to make is in either case under this first thought process, there is absolutely no issue- because you are happy anyway. So, when does it start taking a negative turn? 

Two: the inability to make yourself do it. The child wants to do it, but doesn't actually do anything for it. You want your table clean, and you tell everyone that you love cleanliness, and you talk long about how you cannot be in a place which isn't clean, and then you never clean. People will have a problem with this, and so will you. Neither are you matching societal expectations, nor are you fulfilling your own. If you have big dreams, then you have to act towards it. You cannot let your imagination run wild to push up your own expectations sky high when your actions can't match it. That is when being in the average category will feel like a failure, in contrast to the first thought process where being in the average was equally happy and okay. 

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” - William Shakespeare 

That is exactly where it starts taking a negative turn. We may start feeling as if the stars conspire to push us into failure even with so much talent! We'd think of ourselves as capable as someone who is great at what they do. And yes, we may be skill-wise. But, intelligence without actual work, and expectations that don't match activity, is called 'fooling yourself'. That is the last thing that we should do to ourselves. If I want a good blog, I need to write regularly. There is absolutely no point claiming to be a good writer when I don't write anything at all. Nobody will dispute that I may be a good writer, but everybody would agree that just the skill is no use at all. No excuses, and definitely not the one about the 'fault in the stars'. 

Be brave to face yourself, be brave to accept the truth about what you can and cannot do, and if you believe you can do something then go for it. Emphasis: don't forget to GO! At the end of the day, nothing matters as long as you are happy and you don't do any conscious wrong to anyone. But, make sure that you work towards what makes you happy, or if you think you can't do that then be happy about whatever works for you. There is no ranking in either of these ways, because at the end you are happy and that is literally all that counts!

Don't blame your stars, or anyone else, for the choices you personally make. There are already several factors other than that you can probably attribute to your stars, but not on what you had the power to do. There is no point being discontent when the outcome was already predictable considering how much you worked on it. The stars neither get the credit for your successes, nor the blame for your failures. Own them both, they are yours. And learn from them, because it is never too late to learn!