Inspiration comes when you are bored…

On the week of January 26th, I went to Lalbagh Flower Show in Lalbagh, Bangalore. I bought a nice houseplant for Rs. 200, and got a tiny pot to go with it. Mid-February I re-potted the plant.

Almost around that time I started watching a lot of videos on YouTube, to understand how to properly re-pot the plant, as well as basic lessons on caring for houseplants. (Sometimes I wonder how I’d even survive without YouTube!) I have also been watching bunch of interior designing videos, because I am looking to move out of my current apartment and was thinking to do my new room with a lot of houseplants and paintings and rice lights. Hours and hours of video watching.

Of course, this is possible because at the moment, I am pretty much bored. I usually don’t have much to do in the mornings, except make a quick smoothie breakfast for myself and some lunch. It was this boredom and the need to turn myself into a morning person that I decided to join swim classes in March. And before I knew, I had three hobbies for myself!

1. Growing houseplants
2. Interior designing
3. Swimming

I have started investing little amounts of time to each. I go for swimming four days a week. I have recently purchased a lovely wall decoration.

I also started investing a lot of time in houseplant care. So much so that this weekend I over-watered my succulent and nearly killed it! I noticed something was off when the leaves felt too spread out. When I tried checking, the leaves just came off and they smelled of rot. Gasp!

Fortunately, my hours of video watching taught me that it was possible to propagate new plants from the leaves. So yesterday, I cut the leaves and placed them in a tray to start that process. And that’s why I say I nearly killed it. I still hope to revive it. Succulents are fighters!

All of this has taught me one thing: when you are too busy and too consumed, it is unlikely that you’ll have a bout of inspiration. It’s only when you are pretty much bored to death and wondering what to do with so much time in your hands, will you get a good clue as to what you should really be doing.

How about you? When do you feel the most inspired? Let me know in the comments section.

First swimming lesson!

Yesterday, one of my flatmates, asked me if I would join her in the swimming pool. I don’t swim (not until yesterday) and my first response was, No! However, she was fairly convincing. After a while, I was like, why not? It’s a skill that I have always wanted to learn. It’s a lifesaving skill and a great form of exercise, something which I have been trying to do more of these days.

So, I dressed in a full body costume that my ex-roommate had left behind and went to the pool. Other than us, there were two boys – one of them was teaching the other how to swim.

I have been in water before. As a kid, we used to visit my maternal uncle’s place, which is by the side  of a river. We used to go bathing in the river every time we went there. Thrashing in the water, throwing water balls at each other was a favorite pastime. However, I would start screaming the moment my father dragged me deeper into the river, trying to teach me how to dip underwater. Not a favorite!

But thanks to him, I did get over that fear of water. I mean I am still scared of huge waves thrashing on the shores, but I am okay with a decent depth of water in the swimming pool.

So, my first lesson was learning to float. I have tried swimming as a kid in the river, but of course, I never got around to being able to float. I didn’t trust that the water could push my body up. I mean I am heavier than the water, right? Solving numericals using Archimedes’ principle is one thing, and to trust the water to help you float is something else altogether.

So, I was fairly surprised when I actually started floating, all about five to ten minutes in the water. All I had to do was let go of my body (my flatmate’s tips helped, thanks Shilpa!). In the beginning, I tried to keep my foot in the water, because, well, history. But then, as I started to let go, started to trust the water, I saw I was propelled up and soon I was floating horizontally in the water! Yay!

The second surprise came when, just by being still in the water, I felt that I was moving forward. Water currents, huh?! Amazing! So why not try a bit of propelling my hands to see if I could voluntarily swim? And voila, there I was, swimming half-way through the pool!

One trick that I was yet to learn in the pool yesterday as how to breathe while swimming. Shilpa couldn’t help either, because she is yet to learn it herself. So, I swam half-way through the pool, multiple times, coming back up to breathe midway.

I think the fact that I have been exercising helped me so quickly pick up the basics of swimming. Shilpa mentioned multiple times that she hadn’t seen a faster learner and that I did great for the first day.

After I came back, I watched multiple videos on swimming and I am dying to try out the tricks I learnt next weekend – or better yet, day after tomorrow! We have a holiday on Wednesday on account of Kannada Rajyotsava. Whoo-hoo!

Let me know in the Comments below if you swim, and what are your best tips to get better at it.

Until later, live healthy, eat healthy! ❤