Posted in minimalism

Loosen The Grip

Grip while cycling

Have you ever noticed what happens to your body when you cycle downhill? There is a natural tension throughout. The muscles of your legs tighten. Your back stiffens. Your neck is tighter to compensate for the wind in your face. Most importantly, your grip is tighter. You may be hit the brakes partially to keep the speed in check. Experts say that you do better when you keep the grip relaxed. Just loosen the grip.

The body reacts to each of the stressors with fight, flight or freeze responses. When the response is a fight, then you automatically see the body doing the following:

The adrenaline rises.
Blood flow goes to the muscles that are needed for the activity.
Breathing quickens.
Muscles start getting tensing and trembling.
tunnel vision initiates to focus senses towards the danger.

Why am I talking about riding downhill? I take it as a metaphor for dealing with life’s adversities.

The grip on social life

Sometimes, we hold on to the people in our lives a bit too tight—to the point of being possessive. Your friends are not just your friends. Besides being your spouse, they have an identity. Your children need to build a life outside of what you have imagined for them. Let not the weight of expectations and attachment pull you down. Set your loved ones free sometimes. Loosen the grip on the social thread.

Changing jobs

Gone are the days when work ethics mattered more than the pay. The days when people retained healthy relationships with every organisation they left. Today, we see employees ghosting the companies that offer them jobs. We see associates tarnishing the names of the companies they left. Many disagreements at the workplace lead to a resignation or a termination. Are the egos becoming this fragile? But why? If this happens once, it is an event. If this happens to everyone you leave an organisation then it is habit. Do not make your job title your identity. Perform your duties irrespective of the titles and the universal approvals of your work. When there is no conflict there is no growth. Let your work ethic overpower your position. Loosen the grip on your job title.

Dealing with failure

Are you new to or familiar to the pain of failure? Before that, we may have to define what is a failure. For everyone, the gravity of failure is different. The reaction is unique. What you desire from yourself, dictates how disappointed you are. For example, when you see the physical transformation of a friend who works hard on this fitness, you inherently expect the same when you out the same effort. But what you forget is that you are a different individual. Klosowski had said- “Don’t compare your beginning with someone else’s middle”. Apart from comparing yourself to others, your expectations defeat your mind. The impact is harder when you imagine it to be. Let your legs slip sometimes. Loosen the grip on your life journey.

If you liked what you read, do checkout my book on minimalism “Need over want” and don’t forget to leave an Amazon review about it.