Tactical Ignoring

My knowledge of human psychology is almost zilch. I never can understand other people's behavior nor can I judge people correctly. However lately, I have come to recognize a certain pattern within some individuals I know. It is - "Attention Seeking". And I understand that the only way I can curtail it is by "Tactical Ignoring".

Without getting into too much details - I had this one "friend" on Facebook who always writes extremely controversial status messages to garner attention and have virtual wars with his followers. A few years ago he began by writing misogynistic messages (while he was single). Every post was so politically incorrect and so anti-feminist that he would definitely spark a controversy. Astonishingly within a few years he got married. That's the time I realized that he was just trying to garner attention and stay in the Facebook limelight.

Lately he has shifted to bashing the ruling populist Government in India. While, those are harmless Facebook posts, reading them definitely affects me. So I decided to start ignoring him. And finally, I un-friended him off Facebook.

What may seem as "exercising free speech", is many times just attention seeking. Especially when the free speech comes from keyboard warriors. In the world of constant social media that we live in, I find a lot of attention seekers! So next time when you plan to engage with someone on social media for their snide remarks, just practice tactical ignoring!

Accidental Marathoner

Last month a bunch of my friends and I signed up for what we thought was a relay race for a Vertical Marathon. Vertical Marathons are races in which you have to climb a tall building (in our case it was a 64 storied building).

We were 5 of us. So for a relay, 64/5 came to approximate 12 floors per person. 4 weeks before the actual marathon, I started training for the event starting at 5 floors a day, and about a week before, I could comfortably do 12 floors. Just to be prepared for the race, I started doing 20 floors.

Anyway, on the day of the event, we were negotiating on who will do the extra 4 floors (we volunteered the fittest amongst us!). And then we went to line up for our turn. To our utter disbelief we were told that there was no "relay" and we had actually signed up for a "group" climbing event! What that meant - each one of us had to do the 64 floors, and our group would be timed by the slowest in our group!

And then the ordeal started. What I thought was a casual 12 floor climb, turned out to be a beastly 64 floor hike. Slowly and steadily I paced myself, and I am proud to say I survived to get my first (and probably only!) Marathon medal of my life.






If there is one thing that I have decided not to ever do, it has to be a marathon. I think I am physically incapable of that kind of endurance. While, I know that if I train long enough, anything is possible, I don't fancy putting myself through the pain.

So this thing was just lucky. Now I thank my friends for being as ignorant as me and not reading the rules! Anyway, after having completed the climb, I can definitely tell you that - climbing 64 floors ain't as difficult or tiring as doing an actual running Marathon of 42.195 km.

The running Marathon is not only tougher but also longer and I believe really tests your endurance to the limit. So while I fancy my medal, I still admire all my brave friends who have run marathons!