January 1, 2023
Hi Friend,
Happy New Year! New year, new beginnings.
Like every year, I want to share my 2022 review with you. It allows me to stay in touch with you, even if we don’t talk or get to see each other often.
Thanks for being my friend and letting me share my year end reflections with you.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
Rules for life
As a young man in my teens, I loved reading Life’s Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown. I always found this book to have awesome tips on how to live a meaningful and happy life.
Although it has been a few years since I re-read this book, 2022 reminded me how important it is for each one of us to have our own Rules for Life.
The negative experiences I had in 2022 were related to not having the right set of Rules for Life.
For example, I found myself at a wedding where I did not have an emotional connection with the bride or groom. And that led to me feeling that attending the wedding was a complete waste of time.
In the future, I’ve decided to only attend weddings where I have a deeper connection with the bride or the groom.
Below are a few Rules for Life that I’m setting for myself for 2023 and beyond.
- Spend time with people I deeply love and care about. Avoid people I don’t enjoy meeting/ connecting
- Work on projects where I’m excited to show up daily with great excitement and curiosity
- Prioritize my happiness over others. If I’m happy, I can spread more happiness
Women Rights in India
I found myself immensely frustrated with how women are judged or treated.
In Indian culture, when a woman gets married, her parents bid her goodbye and assume her husband and his family will take care of her.
On the other hand, the husband’s family only cares about the groom. The in-laws consider the wife as an “outsider”. For instance, the husband’s family doesn’t prefer or want to include the wife in important family decisions.
Simply stated, the wife (woman) is at a loss.
Worst things happen when the husband and wife experience a personal turmoil or divorce, leaving the wife extremely vulnerable.
The best solution I’ve found so far is talking about this openly with my family. If you or your partner find yourself in such a situation, talk through it with your families or get outside help.
*I’m making some general statements here but I do find this to be universally true for the most part.
A Fresh Start
Earlier this year I found myself in an unexpected situation at work and I decided to pivot my career from working as an employee to being a solopreneur.
Working for yourself isn’t as glamorous as most people think. There are advantages and disadvantages, like most things in life.
One of the things I simply love is teaching. This is what led me to start my podcast (which recently crossed 134,000 downloads and it is one of the top 2.5% of ALL podcasts), and teach graduate classes on clinical trials at San Jose State University.
I also love planning meetings and events that help advance clinical trials, and medical product development in general.
In 2023, I see myself podcasting, teaching, learning new skills, and planning more events. Basically, being resourceful to other human beings to the best of my ability.
Death
I found myself talking and thinking about death a lot. I actually love this topic/ subject. Most people are totally unprepared for death and I think that is a huge, expensive mistake.
At times, I felt I would die of a heart attack, even though I’m perfectly healthy. At other times, I thought of the death of my loved ones and how prepared everyone is when this day comes.
Our family also lost two of our favorite pet chickens – Krishna and Sonali. We cried a lot. We got angry. We felt helpless.
Thinking about death has also fueled me to do good work. It served as a reminder that our time on earth is limited and we must do our part to make the world a better place.
If you haven’t already, plan for your death NOW.
Hire an attorney and set-up your estate plan. Document what you do with your money so your family isn’t clueless. Have a plan for your digital assets.
There is a lot to unpack here but I hope this helps you to get going.
If you want to hire my attorney, Mr. Jim Cunningham, you can find his information here, read his book, Savvy Estate Planning: What You Need to Know Before You Talk to the Right Lawyer, or check out his awesome YouTube Channel.
Another book that has been recommended to me is On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler
To wrap up, I want to mention few awesome people I met this year – Nick Gray, Author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings, Chris Hutchins, Podcast Host at All The Hacks, and Ben Casnocha, Author of two books, Start of You and The Alliance. Check out their websites/ books and I bet you’ll learn a thing or two.
Special thanks to my loving wife, Jinal, for being a patient listener. And our lovely son, Seth, for being an awesome kid and filling our home with his chatter.
Until next time.
Much love,
Kunal