nidhie sharma Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. As we continued walking, the pebbles by the bank made a pleasant crunching sound under our feet. Their edges were polished to perfection by the continual friction of the water – revealing their innermost colours like polished diamonds.A particular stone caught my attention. It was shiningamong a sea of smooth grey ones. Picking it up, I gaped at it. This one was grey in colour like all the others except it had bands of iridescent blue running across its width. Thebands were the same magnifi cent hue of blue as the skies above. Did it break and fall from the skies and soak up the grey from its common companions? Was this some kind of fall from grace, because it really didn’t seem to belong where I found it.I smiled at the treasure I had chanced upon and popped it in the bag on my shoulder. This was going back with me.A forever memory of this day. INVICTUS

2. Bhalu looked like an unkempt, wild version of the most majestic dog I had ever laid eyes on – her name was Grace. My Grace. A German shepherd, a monster puppy who grew up to be a lady. Forever remembered fondly (by me) for taking regular puppy-sized dumps in Neha’s slippers and shoes, for being the reason Neha and I would have to figure innovative ways to save ourselves and run for cover if she were in thevicinity, for chewing up our toes like her life depended on it, for shredding curtains, socks, shoes and anything she could get a hold of with rare delight, for a bark so fierce yet feminine that people feared pressing the bell at our gates. INVICTUS

3. For five long minutes, the skies rumbled and poured,carpet-bombing the Jungle with spear-like drops. Puncturing the surface of the water with ferocity and purpose, those dark clouds were unrelenting. Unleashing their little warrior drops with the express purpose of drowning us. Cooking up a storm, relishing the deluge. Or perhaps the clouds were not at fault; maybe their delicate frame could no longerhold the water. Maybe the Jungle had conspired with Zeus and Indra. INVICTUS

4. I’ve held on to those memories for the longest; neverletting them go because it takes time – sometimes years –to truly understand how a childhood adventure can impactyou.When I look back, I marvel at how surreal that day hadbeen. It was the kind of misadventure one had only seenin the movies and in all those stories the protagonists wereadults, some of whom did not make it. But we were justchildren, and this was happening to us. And this was as realas it could get.For years after, numerous existential questions racedthrough my head: Was God testing us? Were we handpickedfor it? Was it preordained? Th en the fog started to lift and Isaw it for what it was: a day in the jungle. Also, a day wheneverything went wrong. I’d read somewhere that adversitydoes not build character, it reveals it. We were tested, wewere pushed to the limits of our physical and emotionalendurance. We made it out alive, and it is important thatthis experience be shared. INVICTUS

5. I’ve often wondered that if I could go back in time, would I make the same decisions? I think I would. After all, we all make bad decisions and some of them snowball into cataclysms far bigger than we could have imagined and beyond our control.We still make them because they are meant to be made; they are meant to reveal who we are, to aid us in our journeys … INVICTUS

6. In love with Tawang. I still am.I’ve clung on to every bit of its wonder within the snow globe of my memory, whilst an instrumental piece of music plays in the background. It was a CD that my father played often in his room at the barracks. I had read somewhere that every memory has a soundtrack of its own. ’Tis true! Th atpiece of instrumental music and Tawang are inextricably entwined in my head. INVICTUS

7. Neha’s walk across the river felt excruciatingly long. Like a rubber band stretched to its limits.It is peculiar how moments of happiness and euphoria seem to pass over like greased lightning when compared to the ones filled with pain or anxiety. I often ask myself if happiness is genuinely fleeting or if we are hardwired to believe that human beings are born to suffer, and for that very reason tend to sadistically amplify and stretch our anxieties? Could our age old conditioning be in cahoots with Loki? Maybe, maybe not. I am still debating this, internally... INVICTUS

8. So Tawang it was for three summers. Three spectacular summers, new friendships and an accidental adventure that is still fresh in my mind.Tawang was and is special in so many ways. Ten thousand feet above sea level, home to the oldest monastery in Asia, with clouds that floated right into the military barracks. INVICTUS

9. Sometimes the universe gives signs, it foreshadows.It warns. Sometimes coming events cast their shadows before.Momentously happy ones too. But sometimes those signs are just our hearts wanting something so desperately that we project them. All things said, this whole reading-the-signs business can be tricky as hell. INVICTUS

10. The Jungle was alive. A throbbing entity with its own rules of engagement. And the rules were fairly simple. That you did not try to engage with it. That you had to let it own you. The Jungle had ears and eyes. It found your fears faster than you found your strength. And word travelled fast, really fast. Especially if raging waters criss-crossed through its hear. If you did not square off with your fears, the Jungle would square off with you. INVICTUS

11. Until that fateful moment, I did not quite understand the anatomy of fear. Creeping up surreptitiously, it could permeate your skin and, before you knew it, course through your veins like a tidal wave. A thumping heart and a parched mouth were classic symptoms of surrender. With the rational side of the brain hijacked, fear could paralyse you at will or compel you to jump out of your skin when you most need to stay calm. Standing in those raging waters, I learnt that fear most certainly could kill INVICTUS