Cough has a character like we humans do.

Don’t worry. Just try to understand it.

I was pleasantly surprised and couldn’t help but smile with a painful throat, exhausted, sleepless mind, and drained body when I heard this sentence from an ENT specialist in Mahabub Nagar District, Hyderabad. It got me thinking: won’t life become easy and simple if we just learn to accept the process without rushing to decode everything that happens and try to understand life?

I have had a cough and cold for a few weeks. My condition worsened because of my casualness towards health as I took it for granted as a regular climate change infection and kept delaying a doctor’s visit. Soon, I started coughing uncontrollably, had a fever and had many sleepless nights. In the process, I almost lost my voice. I could not speak at all for about three days. At this time, I realized what a big mistake I made. I rushed to the doctor – an ENT specialist, and was diagnosed with tonsilitis. The swelling was observed in my throat and nose area. The situation was so severe that I had to type the address and show it to Autowalla and the grocery stores because I had completely lost my voice.

I am an academic. My job is to speak. Imagine a person’s situation who earns by speaking but can’t speak at all (hahaha, ironic, right?). Despite my severe condition, I was more worried about how quickly I could start talking because I couldn’t afford to keep cancelling my classes. At this moment also, I was more concerned about my professional responsibilities than my deteriorating health. I know I am unnecessarily sincere and prioritize my work more than my health.

Anyway, amid these worries, the doctor’s simple and short sentence made me take a break from all my fears and think about how I had lost my patience. Ironically, I worried more about the external aspects than my physical and mental well-being.

All of these happened in the last week of December 2023 and continue to happen now, somewhere in the middle of the second week of January 2024.

I just lost my voice, guys! What an exciting end to the year and the beginning of the new year! Phewwwww! It also gave me a relatively easy and straightforward New Year’s resolution.

It’s okay to not speak on many occasions. Your reaction and response aren’t always required. It initially gives you anxiety, irritation and helplessness because it is tough not to say. However, on the brighter side, it does save you a lot of energy. It teaches you to be patient and tolerant and gives you the ability to let go. We all are blessed with varied inherent characteristics to understand ourselves and the world in a better manner, but how many of us can consciously remember that in this fast-paced life cum rat race? Letting go is a challenging skill to learn and inculcate. But it’s a good natural reminder to slow down and take things easy. Life is wonderful and worth enjoying with a few twists and turns.

So, this is how my year ended and started. Something that I never even imagined would happen to me. Interesting, isn’t it, how life surprises you?

Do share with me how your year ended and began.

Keep smiling!