Learning to unlearn

Growing up as an overprotected child to conservative parents, who faced hardships early on but eventually found a stable job, one of the first traits that I observed and inherited as a child is being frugal. Especially, seeing the amount of money they spent on my education, made me guilty to spend money on myself. There is a thin line between being frugal and miser. My parents were limited in their worldview, because of their education and experiences. They did the best they could with the knowledge they had. Although they were somewhat aware of the difference, I didn't gain that insight from them.

In many ways, it ended up affecting my self esteem to such an extent, that I didn't even bother investing on things that could have potentially put me ahead of my peers at that time. Over the past year, having had some alone time to reflect on my life, unlearning this trait and learning the difference between frugality and misery, had a profound impact on my personality. I realized that I had been holding myself back in many ways. But when I started to challenge these belief systems that I built for myself, I started to see the world in a new light.

Last year, I came across this video from Akshay - that really instilled this thought inside me. For those who don't understand Tamil, just to summarize, one of the key points that he made was, how we shouldn't think twice when it comes to investing in ourselves - not materialistic things, but knowledge. I started applying this same thought process in other areas of my life as well -  body, food, hobbies and importantly, relocating myself to Coimbatore for work. (less expensive than other major cities/ plenty of nearby places to explore/ exposure / more opportunities for growth, compared to smaller towns, I believe it is quite important to expose yourself to as many new experiences as possible in your twenties/early adulthood to unlock your full potential)

I've come to realize that my time is more valuable than money that I could save. If I invest my time in the right things now, I could earn 5x, 10x, or even 100x more money in the future. However, not everyone can afford to do this. It's important to become debt-free and have sufficient savings before you can embark on this journey. Having done both, over the past few months, I've been building my daily routines to reflect this mindset. I've been experimenting with different routines to find one that maximizes my productivity, so that I could spend more time working on things that matter in the long run. I'm glad that I've been able to unlearn and relearn things, and start over with fresh perspectives. I hope to revisit all of my belief systems and apply this same thought process, every now and then.