Wednesday 19 March 2014

The most important lessons I learnt from the Beatles

So one of the Quora questions go like - "What is the most important lesson that you have learnt from the Beatles?" Hell since its about the Beatles, I am the last person who would be left behind expressing my views on this.
To start with Beatles music is some sort of magic drug for me. But to avoid mushy intros and get straight to the point about the lessons learnt:

1) There are a few things in life which are worth hoping for and getting hurt for….love is definitely one of them!

2) Happiness, hope and optimism is NOT found in some major profound event but in the small everyday highs of life like getting by with the help of friends, coming home to a loved one after a hard day, dancing with your crush, learning how to be ‘you’ in time, knowing that someone still loves you despite badly messing up etc

3) It’s unbelievable how the biggest of inspiration can lie in the simplest of lyrics in some of the most mundane songs of the Beatles. So I'm talking about this song called "Birthday". In this there's this line which goes, "I would like you to dance....to take a chance!!"
Basically for a painfully reserved person who always would prefer to stay away from the dance floor as far as possible (both literally and metaphorically)  and would choose to watch from the sidelines, this one line is sort of a mountain of encouragement to take risks and put oneself out there. Ok to be fair, my best friends have been my biggest cheer leaders for doing a lot of the "courageous" things that I have done and I honestly have a long long LONG way to still go in this regard. But the fact is when my friends are nowhere around me to bulldoze me into doing something I really want to do, when I am feeling shit scared and all I want to do is play safe, I actually play these lyrics in my head. And trust me Paul McCartney crooning "Take a ch..ch..ch...chaaannce" with so much of conviction is really difficult to ignore! And believe it or not I have done things like making new friends, being more open about my feelings, trying out new things which I would ordinarily never have the guts to do, singing in public…

4) Shit happens. You get royally rejected (in job, love anything), you fall out of love, you miss the past, you act like a complete jerk sometimes and seriously regret it, people treat you badly and drive you crazy... Its ok to brood, feel lonely, intensely negative, depressed, paranoid and really insecure sometimes. But it's really better to minimize the time you feel sorry for yourself, get up your ass and do something about it or move on because ultimately things get better and work out in the end....that is if you choose it to be.

5) After time, music is perhaps the greatest healer.


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