It happens...

Have fun, says the Doc

After being laid low for what seems like ages by an illness, the doctors finally diagnosed it and have begun treatment. Essentially the conversation went something like, "You have a somewhat rare condition but we've identified it and there are effective ways to treat this. By the way, have you been under a lot of emotional stress lately?"

Damn! Why do these doctors ask questions to which they already know the answers? Apparently my condition is heavily linked to stress, and I've been advised to take things easy in life, have more fun and avoid stress. It's a rather bizarre prescription to give a patient who is yet to hit his 24th birthday, made even worse by 2 facts:
a) I've actually noticed that my health takes a dip when my personal life pendulum swings away from "Balmy" and towards "Crisis"
b) Asking me not to worry about things is like asking a fire to be cold or ice to be warm. I mean, some people are natural worriers, capiche?

So although you may think I've been told the best possible thing by my doc - the license to have fun - the truth is, I have to face the fact that I may have a relapse if I'm not careful about as little a thing as what's on my mind!

How personal is personal?

I make no bones about the fact that this is a personal blog. I'll never win a popularity contest, with the kinds of things you will read on this blog. I'll bet many of you squirmed in your chairs when I admitted to being reduced to tears, a couple of posts ago. I know, most people don't want to know such things about me. But I take the word "personal" very literally, and treat this blog almost like a diary. I do draw the line somewhere - for instance, I've never talked about the recent personal crisis that might have been responsible for aggravating my health problems. And yet, if you read this blog, you are sharing my life. Many who read this are already good friends of mine; but a quick look at my site and feed statistics tells me that there are a few regular readers who I've never had the occasion to say hello to. I'm glad such readers exist. In sharing my life, I'm sharing my life's lessons; and if anybody benefits from that, I'm a happy man.

From Skeletor to He-Man!

Having taken a long vacation to recuperate, I'm now left with a challenging target. See, I lost a good deal of weight - an unbelievable number, actually - over the past couple of months because of my disorder, and a few weeks ago I was naught but skin drawn over a skeleton. I think fondly upon the summers when I went to the fitness club regularly and even succeeded in not looking like a studious geek. To get back to that kind of shape is going to be incredibly hard, given the current condition of my muscles and joints. I ought not even think about a treadmill for at least a month. It's an interesting challenge: let us see then, how far I will succeed in this by the time I have to return to the US.

Cheers,
Prashanth.