Sanjay Sabarwal – Page 87 – Sanjay Sabarwal's Blog

Opportunities of 2015

December 21, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

The last few weeks have been a blur. Between work, trying to work out 4-5 days a week, watching over my dad as he recovered, and ensuring I helped Preeti with Holiday shopping, it hit me that the year ends in almost two weeks. 2015 almost gone. I need to take a moment to assess what worked and what didn’t. There are so many things that did, but almost a few major that didn’t, and in that lies the opportunities for a better a 2016. Those are the gaps that get to be filled. They are the ones that will lead to a better me. So here goes.

Love more. More than anything else, that matters the most. From showing my wife why she is the amazing person that makes me feel lucky daily to my loved ones.
Travel. It’s time to see new places and things.
Be Published. It is time to turn professional and get out there.
Be Fit. It’s time to be able to do pull ups and get down to my ideal weight.
Be in Service. It is time to do more in the community.
Declutter. Not only my life, but by work and library space.
Save. It is time to invest and better set up my future..
Practice law. I get to increase my client base.
Social. It is time to reconnect with old friends and create new ones.
Mindfulness. It is time to be present in as many moments as possible,

Brownness

A Trifecta of Things

December 7, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

I sit here, body still sore from last Saturday’s Spartan race. It was the last leg for my trifecta in which I ran three races in one year, all varying lengths. In a way, this should have been the easiest at 4.5 miles, considering we had done a 9 and 13 mile ones, but this turned out to be the most challenging for me as I experienced the one thing I feared during a race.

I lost both my contact lenses in the first mile, which, in effect, made me half blind. So I posted one of my slowest times, and my friend Vishal was a great sport about it. I did sulk for almost a mile after about the lenses, and then it hit me. It wa done with. I could go on and on brooding about it or I could just keep going. And then it changed. Took a breath. New moment. And from then, I enjoyed the race. It’s the same in life. I keep being challenged, and I get to learn to treat it as new moments, and not just brood on what did not happen. It’s not easy when things don’t go as we want, but then again it’s how you react to it that defines you.

So yeah, I am quite proud of this race. Now, it comes to make new goals. New moments. New Memories. New trifectas.

Brownness

A Full Thanksgiving

December 1, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

It was a bitter cold morning. I walked what felt like a mile to the starting line. I was the first from the group to get there, and I took in the spectacle that Long Beach Turkey Trot. A food bank van collected cans and other non-perishables. I was a bit cranky at the lack of sleep and wondered yet again what the hell I was doing at 730am on Thanksgiving running a 10K. Well, more like jogging at 1 hour 15 minutes, but whose counting? Yet I met my group of 20 with my ex-personal trainer who got me to do this run every day (5 years now).

Upon finishing, I rushed out to another place three miles away. A church where for the first ten minutes, I was overwhelmed at the amount of people who had show to volunteer to serve the less fortunate, and stood around unsure what to do. Then I went to the back, and saw my old job waiting for me, washing pots and pans. I did that for a year at UCLA and immediately dove in. I said hi to my family members (over 10 of them showed to help). It was an amazing feeling to see so much of my family show due to a simple text by me asking for support. We worked till 3pm, and then we headed home.

We got to getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was during that time that I realized we had just created a new tradition as many of my loved ones said they would love to the Turkey Trot then go serve. It wa a full Thanksgiving, but you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Food For Thought

Deleting Distractions

November 16, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

I just deleted Facebook off my phone. I go through cycles. I tell myself that I will check occasionally and I am good for a while until disasters strikes like this past weekend. I just kept reading all the articles and the status updates. It was depressing, defeating and frankly just affirmed people’s belief in their whatever ideology they support. And it did nothing to resolve my need to understand why we do this to each other. So I deleted Facebook. Not to avoid. Not to pretend all is well, but welcome ideological silence. Don’t get me wrong, I am not deactivating my account, I am just removing the temptation to keep checking so it came off the phone. I still want to remain connected but not at the sake of addiction or feeding the section of the brain that alights like when one does Heroin. It’s funny how much more I get done when I check it from a desktop, and how much content noise goes down.

It’s not worth it to constantly scour for something that cannot be found on a site meant for easy consumption. I also got tired of the rants, and the memes and the accusations that people are being ignored. Everyone seems to pick what suits them while all the people are dead. So off it comes from my phone and it becomes one less distraction while I pray and think of all the lives lost for senseless reasons. May we all atl east do that.

Myself

Still Learning

November 9, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

Another exciting filled weekend filled with great friends, my beautiful wife and dog, and life lessons. Bella turned 7 this year, and it astonishes me how a 9 pound animal with four legs can bring so much joy to us. From the mornings where she hops and follows my every move till I take her to a walk to her running around like a crazed sheep in circles for a few minutes then sleep all day, Bella is one of those let’s just “well rested” animals. I am grateful for who she is though. I never thought she would provide me so many lessons on taking care of someone.

Over the weekend, I had some great friends come over. It hit me that I have known them for decades, and it brings me great joy to know that we are still in touch, still connecting, and I am still a big mouth. This is an old habit of mine where I get too comfortable, and share too much details that no one’s business. It’s a lesson I am still learning. I share too much, and even though I’d like to think my intentions are clear, there is a part of me that knows that I am being judgement. Being “holier than thou”, and it has no place in my life as I myself am deeply flawed. Who am I to judge? (paraphrasing the Pope here). So with deep humility, I apologized. Before pride would me defensive, and all the reasons would come up why what I did was OK, but, to me, it was clear. If I hurt someone’s feelings then I need to make right. It is something that I am still learning.

Brownness

The Weekend

November 2, 2015 Sanjay Sabarwal

“How was your weekend? ” My crossfit coach asked this morning. I just smiled, and replied “Good.” A simple word, but truth be told it was way more than that. This weekend I laughed till my stomach hurt, worked out till I was sore, ate and drank too much, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I spent time with family, friends. Each night brought new ways to connect with others/ And it hit me that I live a blessed life, one that I am grateful.

It wasn’t always that way. I spent entirely too much time lamenting what I did not have when in reality I was rich beyond measure. This weekend is the life that I wished for, but the reality is that I have these before. The difference was that I just did not see them in this light. To me, this was normal. Hanging out with family, friends, laughing, doing nothing but just hanging out at home sounded boring. Yet it has never been. I just thought that I was doing it wrong. Living life that is when all along not only was I lucky, I was given so many amazing people to meet.

So yeah, I had a good weekend, but really I had more than that.