Keep Your Chin Up!

Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening,

I am Diia.

I have always been, like my Mum used to say, overly honest and a daydreamer.

Like many people on our blue planet, I tend to mull over stuff--you know stuff about animals--like sea otters holding hands to keep from drifting apart while sleeping, or about us humans--if we're part of some experiment and why we don't all have equal chances at life. I ponder about living too -- if the whole point of living from an evolutionary perspective is to get to somewhere, like there's a destination to be, and that when we get there (perhaps to a red planet in a spaceship), it's all going to be okay.

I think about love, too -- that no matter how much we love someone, or are loved by someone, that person could still unexpectedly go away and when they do, we feel like we're going to die but then we recover from the inner pain, and feel like warriors instead.

I also think about the darkest chapters in my life and how after I ended that chapter, I had to fight like hell to reclaim my voice, and memory. I taught myself to use my non dominant hand to do things only my dominant hand was capable of doing and taught my legs to run. After all, as they say, everything is controlled by chemical reactions and muscle memory. Several trials and errors later, my left hand learnt to sign invoices at grocery stores as effortlessly as my right hand, and my legs kept running after four miles.

My left hand hasn't created a hyper-realistic portrait and my legs haven't run a marathon (as of yet!), but I'm convinced the muscles in our bodies have memories of their own, and can be taught to do interesting, quirky things.

I have a day time job as an Analyst but I'm also a storyteller at night.

As an Analyst and storyteller, I engage both my left and right brain when trying to solve a problem. If I'm trying to grasp a concept, first I allow the information to percolate, and then create an interesting doodle with the resources I have available. While creating the doodle, I engage all my six senses. I try to describe the concept as if it had a taste, color, sound and smell. I identify with the process with curiosity and try not to worry about the outcome. This attitude has helped me to better understand and retain the concept.

I welcome new challenges daily, by pushing my limits little by little, and changing my daily habits. My ultimate goal in life is to build a resilient-approach to living, and to keep going no matter what curveballs life throws at me.

I'd love to share some of my musings and doodles on love, work and life with you here in this space.

For today I'd like to share a drawing with you. When I had reached the lowest point in my life and had to still come out of it, my drawings were what kept going.

If you have any requests, questions, or would like me to write something for you, please let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading.

And until next time, here's a big, warm howdy, and keep your chin up!